Mr. Joe Noonan:

With respect, there is a false premise in the question. In a sense, neutrality is in the Constitution already and that was clarified back in 1987 in the Supreme Court in the Crotty case where it said the people had given certain limited powers to the Oireachtas and the Oireachtas could not give those powers away to other bodies. For example, if one defines neutrality as joining a military alliance, we cannot join NATO without a constitutional referendum under the provisions of the Crotty judgment. The answer to the question, therefore, is "No".