Neutrality pledge meaningless: Greens

THE Green Party yesterday branded the Government’s promises that the Nice Treaty will not affect our neutrality as meaningless.

John Gormley TD said the proposed constitutional amendment on neutrality provided a loophole which meant Ireland would be able to join a force such as NATO without a referendum.

Mr Gormley also said the Seville Declaration, in which EU leaders guaranteed last June that Ireland’s neutrality would be respected, was meaningless as it was not legally binding.