Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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72. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he maintains the position asserted in September 2018, that he supports Irish neutrality, in view of the 2003 judgment in a case (details supplied). [44363/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As has been repeatedly stated, the Government is fully committed to that longstanding policy of military neutrality, which is characterised by non-participation in military alliances. This commitment was most recently detailed in the White Paper on Defence published in August 2015. This reaffirmed that Ireland’s policy of military neutrality is a core element of Irish foreign policy, as had been previously articulated in the 2015 review of Foreign Policy, “The Global Island”. This Government upholds, and will continue to uphold, this deeply rooted, publicly valued policy. Whilst the judgment of Mr. Justice Kearns in the 2003 High Court case of Horgan v Irelanddid include certain observations on the customary international law of neutrality, these were not relevant to the outcome of the case. The plaintiff’s action failed on other grounds.