The draft constitution represents the outcome of 16 months of intensive work and negotiation between the EU institutions, national governments and parliaments. It particularly focuses on important protections for smaller member states. Articles 40.3, 40.6 and 40.7 indicate that Ireland will have to increase its defence spending considerably and could join a common defence without a referendum. Within the context of this country, neutrality has no legal or constitutional basis. We may not be a neutral country in the strictest sense of the word, but we are certainly a non-aligned one.