Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The right to self-determination is and always will be the first principle of the foundation of our Republic. Neutrality and sovereignty are equally second. The history of our own country and the blood of generations of the working class are testimony to that. Now more than ever, neutrality must be cherished and protected. It is not right that prominent Ministers are undermining neutrality and drawing our nation to the military alliances through their support of the EU defence policies, thus leading into the funding of the arms industry. This, I may add, is against the wishes of the Irish nation and its citizens and is thus eroding our esteemed peacekeeping reputation and our extensive experience in conflict resolution around the world.

No one has the right to sell our neutrality and to negotiate our neutrality without the full, democratic consent of the people. This is a position we have held for centuries. We are a small nation and we have never invaded any other country. That is a sacrosanct and noble position to hold. We listen to the arguments of our own Taoiseach, Ministers and MEPs that we must evolve and change with the times and that neutrality must also be part of that change. This is an alarming warning sign of the Government’s intentions to erode our neutral status. It must be challenged every step of the way and it will be challenged every step of the way. This is why I welcome this Bill, which solidifies and galvanises our stance on neutrality. This is too precious a thing to be left in the hands of vested interests.

The Bill states categorically Ireland is a neutral state, that it shall maintain a policy of non-membership of military alliances and that it shall not allow its territory to be used by other states to transport war materials or personnel to third countries for the purpose of war or armed conflict. Ireland’s peacekeeping missions go back over 64 years. We proudly hold the longest, unbroken record of any nation in the world. This is a tradition of which Irish people are very proud. We must play our part with promoting peace throughout the world. We must offer every humanitarian assistance to our suffering neighbours. However, we must remain steadfast in our neutrality and remain as we have done for the past 64 years, as a United Nations peacekeeping force that is respected throughout the Far East and around the world. We cannot do this if we are militarily aligned with foreign armies. I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for bringing forward this important Bill.

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