Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The issue of neutrality could not be more pressing than it is today. Angela Merkel has publicly supported the idea of creating an army for the European Union. She said that the EU will have to create a European intervention unit with which Europe can act on the ground where necessary. This echoed similar comments by Jean-Claude Juncker who said that the common European army would show the world that there would never again be a war in Europe. This is an increasingly worrying development.

Over the past number of years, the EU army agenda has been advancing at a rapid pace. Mr. Macron's letter to The Irish Timesrecently mentioned a better Europe when he focused on the EU army agenda. This agenda includes increased military defence budgets as well as moving towards a European defence union. It includes vast increases in funding for military purposes. After 2020 the funds will go from €500 million to €13 billion, a 2,000% increase. On top of this there is a 180% increase in funding for internal EU security and a 260% increase for migration and border security. The new defence fund will also be used to develop new weapons. Under this scheme, private arms companies will have up to 100% funding for development and 20% of prototyping costs will be covered. The EU is basically funding an arms race to go along with its desire for an army to call its own.

Many of the PESCO projects are aimed at developing this common EU weapons system and military development for use by member states in future EU military missions. The Government has justified Irish involvement in PESCO by stating that the initial PESCO projects are of limited scope. This ignores the clear evidence from the EU that these projects are only the beginning and that the scope of PESCO will be increased in the future. Speaking in the European Parliament, the Taoiseach stated that Ireland was pleased to join this military alliance and to participate in EU defence. He went on to say that the Lisbon treaty demanded this from the State. This ignores the constitutional opt out that the State has. Fine Gael assures us that PESCO does not undermine neutrality, yet this is contradicted by the party's stated goal of redefining Irish neutrality. Fine Gael and the Taoiseach have been clear in their belief that the State should be willing to participate fully in military alliances.

It is worth reminding the Government that the Irish people are not in favour of the State being part of an EU army. In a survey commissioned by Red C Research & Marketing, 78% of people agreed that Ireland should have a clear policy on neutrality. None of this appears to matter to Fine Gael, which does not want to respect Ireland's constitutional position on defence. In an EU context national defence is, and must remain, a member state competence.

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