Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

-----but you do not draw the distinction.

What is Irish neutrality? It is not clearly defined but it is apparent from our history what it was and from the people who set up the Irish Neutrality League, namely, Connolly and Pearse. The First World War was key in motivating the leaders of the 1916 rebellion to instigate that rebellion. They wanted Irish independence and freedom long before that but they believed the outbreak of the First World War made it imperative that there be a rebellion in Dublin against that war because thousands and thousands of Irish people were going out to be slaughtered in an inter-imperialist conflict. They were clear we would not take sides between brutal military powers.

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