John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to provide some historical context as to Ireland’s neutrality. I provide that by quoting from the Viscount Cranborne, who was the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and wrote to the British War Cabinet on 21 February 1945. He outlined 13 examples of how the Irish Republic was assisting with the Allied war effort. Some of those 14 examples were:

3. They have arranged for the immediate transmission ... of [all] reports of submarine activity received from their coastal watching service.

4. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory ...

5. They [have] arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft.

6. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports.

7. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head.

8. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land.

9. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of [the South of] Ireland ...

10. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand ... Allied service personnel are ... allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering [all Allied] damaged aircraft.

11. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to [the South].

12. They have.. offered no objection to the departure of Southern Ireland persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces ...

13. They have continued to exchange [all] information with our security authorities regarding [all German people living in the South of] Ireland.

14. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a Radar station in Southern Ireland for the use against the latest form of submarine activity.

That is what we were doing in the Second World War when it comes to neutrality. Fast forward to the 1960s, it was American aircraft that were flying Irish troops to the Congo. It was German aircraft that were flying Irish troops to Mali. It was an agreement that existed, although not officially confirmed, between the Royal Air Force, RAF, and the Irish Government that after 9/11, if any rogue aeroplanes were to enter Irish airspace, they would be shot down by the RAF. The American air force has used Shannon a base for the past 20 years. Are those the actions of a neutral country? I do not believe they are. That is a fact. That is not an opinion of John McGahon. Anyone who thinks Ireland is a neutral country is deluding themselves. It is a particular brand of neutrality that has been allowed to develop over the past 50 or 60 years because of complete and total inaction of policy.

Deputy Berry outlined the three types of security forces that exist on the European Continent at the minute that can be put into three categories. The first category is the actual neutral countries, such as Finland, Austria and Sweden, that can protect themselves because they put proper funding into their military. The second group is Iceland, which is a traditionally pacifist country but joined NATO in 1949. If it ever gets into trouble, it will have the support of larger nations. The third group is the most common, where every country maintains a particular level of sovereign military capability, but they are also involved in a joint defence arrangement, whether that is NATO or something else.

Ireland is unique because it is the only European continental country – not EU – that does not fall into any of those three sections. That is because, over the past 50, 60 or 70 years, we have allowed this concept of neutrality, which was never a quasi-political position, to develop. We have never actually been neutral because of all of the co-operation we have done. Let us become a properly neutral country. Let us have a properly funded military capability and we can then be a proper neutral country, like those in the first section I talked about, which is Finland, Austria and Sweden.

What does our neutrality mean? It means so many things to so many different people because it has been such a loosely defined term in recent years. To me, it means we stay out of conflict, we stand up for international law and there is no automatic obligation for us to join any sort of a conflict, the same way there is no automatic obligation for any other country to come to our aid. That is what neutrality means to me. However, at the same time, it means we co-operate extensively with our friends, neighbours, allies and partners, we stand up for international law on a case-by-case basis and we are not part of any common defence arrangements. That is what I believe it is. We should stay as what a neutral country is, but we operate on a case-by-case basis and continue an in-depth co-operation with other European defence forces and militaries to make sure our Irish Army is getting the absolute best training.

Let us have a debate about it. I thank the Senator for tabling this. The whole issue about Irish neutrality and the concept of it is that it is not a sacred cow or sacrosanct but rather something that should be up for debate in a modern Irish society. We have had some very big issues we have discussed and debated over the past ten years. I am looking to have the type of neutrality we have had in this country for the past 50 or 60 years, but at least let us be honest about it. That honesty is that while we have a pious view of neutrality - “Oh, sorry. We are neutral. We don't get involved.” - at the same time, we have all of this collaboration and co-operation with other countries but we are kind of not kosher about it.

We need to be honest about it. We need to say we are a neutral country and that means we have a proper, funded military so we are not relying on the co-operation of other countries to come to our aid. It also means we keep it as business as usual and maintain the status quo. I really believe this. We are not a neutral country going by the facts I have from over the past 80 years and the examples of where we have engaged with other countries. We should absolutely keep and continue to do what we are doing, but let us be honest about it and say what we are. Let us properly fund our military and be like a proper neutral country, such as Finland or Sweden, that is not relying on other countries and is not part of defence agreements. That is the way forward for Irish neutrality in the modern era.