Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party welcomed the establishment of a formal public debate on Ireland's security stance when it was announced by Government. At that time, I called in the House for a proper forum on the model of the citizens' assembly, which has proven so successful in so many areas at teasing out the detail and complexity of difficult issues. The Government chose not to go down that path and instead set up a forum consisting of four days of 16 panels and 80-plus speakers.

The Irish Timessummed up the forum as having eight main takeaways or conclusions, and I will read them out. The first was that "We’re not joining Nato and Nato isn’t particularly interested in having us as a member"; the second was that "Nato is a lot more than a defence alliance"; the third was that "You don’t have to be neutral to be good"; the fourth was that "Neutrality still stirs deep emotions"; the fifth was that "Climate change is by far and away the biggest threat to global security"; the sixth was that "There are arguments for and against the triple lock"; the seventh was that "Threats can take many forms"; and the eighth was that "The debate is not over but don’t expect any major changes [soon]". That is a reasonable summary. Valuable and interesting talking points emerged from all this discussion and some, if not many, clear policy points have emerged.

There was therefore probably some merit in the exercise but it really does not advance us very far. The issue of neutrality, that is, not joining any military alliance, seems put to bed. I think it has been put to bed.

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