By Denis Bright
In a globalized world, there are great pressures on Irish neutrality. There is a parallel political ascendency for NATO in most European Countries.
Tensions between associations with the NATO and Irish national sovereignty are hardly new trends. How indeed can a country with 6.6 million people stand apart from an increasingly globalized and militarized world?
Ireland’s membership of the United Nations and the EU has over-ruled the possibilities of this isolation. Ireland is involved in UN peace-keeping and developmental agencies, often with similar military commitments by other NATO countries.
From Brussels, the EU has a great impact on Irish domestic and financial protocols. More importantly, Ireland is a big player in the Wall Street Financial System. It is a haven for tax avoidance with a corporation tax rate of 12.5 per cent for trading income and 25 per cent for non-trading income.
Ireland also has a political problem with Brexit. Some border controls may need to be re-established between the Republic and Northern Ireland.
Patrick Smyth in the Irish Times Online (23 June 2017) confirms the contemporary challenges to Irish Neutrality.
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar was asked by journalists if the time had come for a complete revision of the traditional concept of pragmatic Irish Neutrality as practised in war and peace since the last British troops were withdrawn from the Republic in 1938 when British administrative control of some Treaty Ports also ceased:
“No. Ireland’s position on neutrality is longstanding. We believe that by being a country that is neutral but not being part of any military alliance, that it makes us stronger in the world, that we’re more respected around the world particularly beyond this continent, because we aren’t members of NATO and we don’t take part in a military alliance, our focus is on other things, like development for example.
“Having said that, co-operation around security and defence is changing. The threats that we face in the world are less about wars between countries, and more about threats created by terrorism, by extremism, and by cyber-attacks for example.
“And those areas are not areas in which we should be neutral. We should be very much involved in working with European partners to prevent cyber-attacks, to manage migration and to stand against terrorism.”
WorldBeyondWar Online (22 January 2018) claims that such compromises with Irish Neutrality had strayed too far from the real intent of the Irish Constitution. At issue, was a staged encounter at Shannon Airport on 13 January 2018 between Vice President Pence and US troops on route to bases in the US Global Alliance.
Democracy Online (7 March 2005) notes that under the Presidency of George W. Bush, an average of 13,000 US troops a month were in transit through Shannon Airport on route to distant war zones.
In this context, five peace activists, including Ciarán O’Reilly of St. Mary’s Parish in South Brisbane, were arrested for breaking into compounds where US military planes were parked.
Yet NATO Online (21 March 2016) continues to talk-up closer relations between the US Global Alliance and Ireland under the current Fine Gael Coalition Government of Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. Ireland joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) and became a member of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in 1999.
After the storms generated by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the Irish electorate is very committed to new economic growth strategies.
Financial incentives like increased military transits through Shannon Airport are all positive factors for the Irish economy. The BREXIT initiative may increase ties to both the British economy and to the US Financial Hub in New York. Commitment to continue the momentum of Ireland’s economic growth is always a significant factor in controlling Irish opposition to closer association with NATO agendas.
The Irish property market is booming and trend-lines for unemployment are improving with an unemployment rate of around 5 per cent possible in 2020 on the eve of the next national elections.
As three million tourists flock to Ireland each year, with a seasonal concentration in summer and autumn, the quest for traditional Irish populism has a stronger appeal with foreign visitors than within a more pragmatic Irish electorate.
Attempts are relentless to woo Ireland into more formal association with NATO. The proposals are innocuously embedded into legitimate strategies for the management of security and terrorist challenges affecting airports, passenger ferries and cyber-security. Financial incentives are usually offered to Ireland by NATO.
The Irish tricolour is displayed on the NATO web-site (21 March 2016):
In Ireland and beyond, the slide towards dependency should be resisted by progressive leaders with a commitment to their national sovereignty.
Hopefully, this fashion trend towards dependency will not inhibit your search for another pint of Guinness this weekend at your local St. Patrick’s Day Parade for peace and frivolity in every land.
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