Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Monday, 13 November, 22 EU defence ministers signed the permanent structured cooperation agreement, PESCO. Ireland was not one of the 22 to sign up immediately. However, after the meeting, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, signalled his support for Irish participation calling Irish involvement a good thing.

PESCO is part of a renewed drive towards a standing EU army and the militarisation of the EU project. Irish involvement would completely violate Irish neutrality. PESCO is a realisation of the defence articles in the Lisbon treaty. During the debate on that treaty Sinn Féin and many others pointed out that ratification of the treaty would facilitate the creation of an EU army. We were told we were scaremongering and exaggerating but sadly we have been proved right. During the debate the Government's official statement was that the Lisbon treaty did not affect or prejudice Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality. Now we know this was entirely bogus and events and actions have proved us correct. Not only is the EU sprinting ahead with the creation of an EU army but we know that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Taoiseach want Ireland to be the front and centre of this army. It has taken a few years but Articles 42 and 46 of the Lisbon treaty are now starting to go live.

PESCO is not some benign humanitarian force: its mandate, as outlined in the Lisbon treaty, includes the requirement for the participating states to make troops available for deployment as part of PESCO missions. Does the Minister not agree that PESCO presents a fundamental threat to our neutrality and that Ireland should remain completely outside it?

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