Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Our neutrality has not just been a key military stance since the foundation of the State. It is in some ways a core part of our national identity and culture. It has been a foundation of our international diplomatic status and given generations of Irish people a sense of security from wars happening on an international stage.

The subject of neutrality is one of the most vexed and divisive in our public discourse. A remarkable feature of this subject is we have yet to have in-depth debates on neutrality in any kind of systematic or considered format such as citizens’ assemblies or Oireachtas committees. A number of fast-emerging and deeply unsettling international trends demand we give much greater consideration to our defence resourcing, especially the war in Ukraine and the departure of the US from its traditional diplomatic and military alignment with Europe. We also must reckon in the longer term with what are likely to be the significant security impacts of the climate crisis. One of the most sobering predictions associated with the climate crisis is that of greater political instability in a world of catastrophic weather events and diminishing natural resources. Issues of national security will increasingly be tied to volatile, immensely destructive natural forces.

Notwithstanding these threats, we need to proceed with extreme caution with any proposed changes to our defence policy. While there are legitimate critiques of UN decision-making, there is also well-founded concern among broad sections of our population and civil society that removing this triple lock mechanism is part of a general trend of moving away from our neutrality by stealth and that our Government is abandoning long-held principles of defence, and safeguards, without proper public consultation or engagement.

Deliberative democracy needs to be the framework for any major proposed defence policy changes. Any attempts to alter or weaken our military neutrality will be extremely divisive and will need to be put to the people through referendums. The pushing through of decisions that are so divisive and complex by simple majorities inflicts harm on our parliamentary democracy and alienates many people from politics. We should also consider citizens’ assemblies to afford us the most wide-ranging consultative forum possible on these matters that may be deeply consequential not just for us but for our children and their children.

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