Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat a Chathaoirligh agus a Threoraí.  Over the past few weeks we have been drip-fed plans by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Martin, to hold a series of public consultations in June on neutrality and joint security arrangements, but, we are assured, not on joining NATO. However, I think reasonable people have a right to be suspicious about Government talk about consultations with the public these days.The consultation prior to aspects of the new well-being curriculum in schools does not seem to have captured the general will of the public, for example. Nor did the prior consultations on the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, which is currently drawing unprecedented negative international attention to our blind spots around free speech. Consultations or talk of them can often be a fig leaf. They often take place after the decision has been made on important issues. We saw this recently in Inch, County Clare, when a Government spokesperson indicated that any prior consultation might have given the local community an opportunity to disagree with the Minister's plan on the accommodation of migrants. We should all shrink from populism but that was very revelatory of a very unhealthy and undemocratic impulse within Government in these times.

These consultations on neutrality appear to be happening at a time of increasing and enforced globalisation. This goes alongside a diminution of the sense of nationhood which has held our country, or at least this part of it, together for the last 100 years this week. One hundred years of peace has been helped by our policy of political alignment allied with military neutrality. Rather than bargaining now whether to trade our politically aligned neutrality or erode the triple lock on our military involvement in international peacekeeping, we should think about better ways to use and deploy our neutrality. I may not be quoting Frank Aiken quite accurately but a statement attributed to him from 1957 captures a sentiment I want to express today. He said that our policy of neutrality is not based on fear but on courage, not on evasion but on initiative, not on apathy but on concern for the future of mankind. We need courage today to tell our European neighbours when enough is enough. Our initiative is called upon now to help to solve an unwelcome war which, yes, involves unjust aggression from Russia, but a war which is haemorrhaging Europe. We have talents in spades for this work as evidenced by our encounter with the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, this week in this House. Concern for the future of Europe and mankind requires that this initiative be seized from the hawks on both sides. Make no mistake, Bakhmut is Europe's modern Somme. The thousands of young lives being sacrificed in the tunnels and streets of that place are crying to heaven for angels of peace. Ukrainian and Russian families are being destroyed by a conflict which can never have a winner. It is a conflict being urged on by leaders far from the battlefield. Now is not the time to be cosying up to NATO or questioning our neutrality. It is the time to exercise the power of our neutrality by being tireless about peacemaking efforts, just as we were tireless about seeking a seat on the UN Security Council a couple of years ago. That would be a much better use of the considerable talents of our Department of Foreign Affairs. Away with fear and evasion, and let us put our diplomats on the highways in pursuit of peace.