Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Sinn Féin’s vision is for Ireland to play a constructive role in the wider world and to be committed to diplomacy, humanitarianism, peace building and co-operation with other states on global challenges including poverty, world hunger, climate change, conflict resolution and migration. An independent foreign policy and military neutrality are crucial to allow Ireland to play that important role in the wider world. We should be proud of our military neutrality and resist attempts by some in the Government to recast it as a weakness or a failing.

The legacy of Irish neutrality is our role in working for nuclear non-proliferation, our humanitarianism, our contribution to the drafting of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, our peacekeeping and the proud record of our UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, Congo, Chad, South Sudan and elsewhere. This has been our contribution to making the world a better and safer place.

Being proud of our neutrality means being proud of those who served on UN peacekeeping missions, including those who fought and died in the Niemba ambush, those who fought and whose bravery has long been recognised at the siege of Jadotville, and all of those who died on UN peacekeeping duty, including Private Seán Rooney who was killed in December of last year. Sinn Féin is proud of those who have served this country and we are proud of Ireland’s history in seeking peace rather than conflict. We, therefore, welcome any opportunity to participate in public discourse on foreign, security and defence policies. Such a debate has been sorely lacking over the past number of decades. Irish governments have made important and often crucial decisions with very little engagement with the Irish public and often, even, with minimal Oireachtas debate. Indeed governments have had to be taken to court in order to allow the Irish people to have their say on fundamental foreign policy shifts.

Sinn Féin welcomes debate because we believe that Ireland has a positive story to tell and still has an important impact to make. The starting point to any such discourse must be a recognition that military neutrality has served us well. It is for this reason we want to enshrine the principle of neutrality in the Irish Constitution and within the EU treaties.

Of course, it is easy to say that we support neutrality. Most members of this House would claim to do so, albeit an increasing number of Government Deputies are willing to acknowledge that it is not their position. It is less easy to define what neutrality actually means for a country like Ireland in the 21st century. That needs to change. Those of us on the left and others who value neutrality have over the past two decades been very good at articulating what we are opposed to and not so good at setting out the positive and constructive role which neutrality can help Ireland to play internationally into the future. It is indeed arguable that no government has clearly articulated what Irish neutrality means to them since the time of Frank Aiken.

Frank Aiken, of course, was a leading figure during the revolutionary period. His later work defined Irish foreign and defence policy for generations. The position of neutrality adopted by Frank Aiken and many others from that revolutionary era should not surprise us. They understood and appreciated the words of General Sherman, who said:

It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.

It is Ireland’s position as a neutral country, as well as our unique experience at a European level of colonialism, that has allowed Ireland to earn a reputation as one of the pre-eminent contributors to peacekeeping in the globe. Irish neutrality has never meant isolationism, disengagement or disinterest in the world. It has been a positive force for good and has allowed this small country to play a bigger role than many others with much greater wealth and much bigger military machines. That is the legacy of those who first defined our neutrality. Our objective must be to build on that legacy for generations to come.

That is why Sinn Féin welcomes increased public discussion on foreign, defence and security policies. It is why we are disappointed that the Government’s proposed forum is less about public discussion and more about an attempt to reshape public opinion. The Government does not intend to provide a role for the Opposition in the Tánaiste’s proposed so-called consultative forum. This is an important point because decisions on foreign policies are different from those on other areas. When one government signs up to international agreements, a successor government cannot always simply change position without damaging our international reputation. Therefore, the Government cannot simply exclude the Opposition from important information and discussions which could have an impact for generations to come.

In any public discussion, we will vociferously advocate for neutrality. In doing so, we will follow the long-standing position of republicans, trade unionists and other progressives over many generations. That is not to deny that the world and the international security context have changed. The illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the world, and has changed it forever, arguably. In the midst of this world-defining moment, it is not only right but it is incumbent on all of us, in this House and beyond, to reflect upon our responsibility to safeguard our country and our citizens, to reflect upon how we uphold the principles of democracy and of the rule of law, and to reflect also on how we contribute positively to the world beyond our borders through humanitarian and development aid and through peacekeeping. This is also done through acting as agents and facilitators of peace where conflict does exist.

It is here that opinion diverges. For my part, upon reflection, I am as convinced in the imperative of Irish neutrality as I was prior to Russia’s criminal invasion of Ukraine. I remain as committed as ever to Ireland’s participation in UN peacekeeping missions and in enforcing UN Security Council resolutions. I remain as proud as before of Ireland’s humanitarian record, a record reinforced by the non-lethal aid and wider support we have provided to the Ukrainian people. Others see the invasion of Ukraine as justification to take another course. Many of those have already conveyed almost a sense of embarrassment and shame in Irish neutrality.

The truth is that over the past two decades, at least, governments have undermined Irish neutrality. They have done this in three ways. First, governments have moved us away from having an independent foreign policy. So it is that the strong, and rightfully so, Government rhetoric and actions regarding Ukraine, being as they are in tune with larger western states, are not matched in areas where they are equally deserving to be heard, such as in Palestine. Independent foreign policy meant that this country led the way in the international pressure which brought about the downfall of apartheid South Africa. Independent foreign policy must mean that we do the same to end Israeli apartheid in Palestine.

Second, successive governments have overseen systemic underinvestment in our Defence Forces. We are unable to monitor, never mind defend, our own airspace - our skies - and we are unable to secure ourselves against modern threats. Numbers within the Defence Forces have reached critically low levels. The decades-long undermining of our Defence Forces is shameful.

Third, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have used membership of NATO’s Partnership for Peace and PESCO as mechanisms to further undermine neutrality. These actions impact upon each other. When Irish Ministers sign up to international missions, even those with UN mandates, they often do so at the cost of Irish defence. When the Irish Naval Service rightly participates in the upcoming mission in the Mediterranean, there will be periods when there is just a single navy vessel operating in Irish waters.

The Government's responses, which are sometimes contradictory ones, to media reports of a secret deal with the British Government to have the RAF secure our airspace starkly points again to an ongoing policy of signing up to international military missions while ignoring the incapacity to address our own domestic defence needs.

Sinn Féin understands the obligations of the Government in respect of agreements made with international partners. That is why I have said that in government, we will not withdraw Irish troops from pre-committed operations and exercises. In respect of future decisions, however, we will take a different approach from that of the current Government. That approach will have the unequivocal starting point that we are a neutral and independent State, and will have the objective of building upon our proud tradition of participating in UN peacekeeping missions and supporting conflict resolution across the globe.

The alternative trajectory is one that would place Irish Defence Forces personnel under the command of an EU military structure, the deployment of which could occur without the approval of the Dáil, the Government or the UN mandate that is required by the triple lock.

That has been the stated ambition of many within the EU, long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is the natural outworking of the stated position of those within Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil who want to undo our traditional military neutrality. The ongoing failure of the Government parties to accept the premise that Irish neutrality has served us well has led to some cynicism about the proposed consultative forum on international security. Like many people, I feel that the forum is a blatant attempt to undermine that neutrality. Should the Government wish to establish a consultative mechanism for debate outside of a referendum, the appropriate forum would be a citizens' assembly. The proposed format of the consultative forum minimises the input of the public and Opposition parties. Those contributing will be appointed by the Government and their contributions will lead to a report authored solely by the forum's chair, who will also be appointed by the Government.

Sinn Féin will, of course, engage with the forum in any way we can. We will outline our clear positions on Irish and international security policy, for example by reiterating that the public should be consulted via the proven framework of a citizens' assembly, leading to a referendum to enshrine neutrality in the Constitution. The further entanglement of the Irish State or the Defence Forces in international security organisations or frameworks should be referred by the Dáil to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence for considered and detailed scrutiny. The rebuilding of our Defence Forces must be a priority obligation on the Government. A prerequisite to doing so is addressing the current recruitment and retention crisis. That requires, as a first step, the immediate implementation of the working time directive.

There are always those who seek to misconstrue commitment to neutrality with isolationism. What they miss is that our neutrality and our independent foreign policy led President Biden, in this Chamber, to recognise Ireland's moral authority around the world. That moral authority is something worth cherishing because it is the legacy of people such as the former Minister, Mr. Seán MacBride, who bore witness to our own revolutionary period and was later the international chair of Amnesty International, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights. Those of that generation will have recalled the famous banner that hung from Liberty Hall saying "We serve neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland." It is with that ethos of Ireland as an independent State operating an independent foreign policy as endorsed and respected by the international community that we can advance the legacy of delivering humanitarian aid to countries under brutal and callous invasions, such as in Ukraine; build on the renowned reputation of our Defence Forces in UN peacekeeping missions; and make a stand for the Palestinian people and others who are suppressed through occupation and apartheid. That is the vision of neutrality that Sinn Féin will bring to this and every debate and it is a vision I am proud to champion.

Looking across this Chamber at those parties who have been in government for all of my life, I see no vision for Irish neutrality because none has been espoused since the time of Frank Aiken. I see no vision for a foreign policy or international security policy other than to follow the lead of others.

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