Opposition hits out at bill that ‘threatens Irish neutrality’

THE bill that will allow Irish troops become involved in European Union Rapid Reaction Forces was set to be passed in the Dáil last night in the face of angry protests that it was being rushed through with undue haste.

The Defence (Amendment) Bill provides for deployment of the Defence Forces abroad under the mandate of the EU. Until now Irish troops could only serve abroad on missions which had a United Nations mandate.

Defence Minister Willie O’Dea last night told the Dáil that the departure was necessary to allow the Irish military respond to crisis situations, where human life was under threat from genocide and crimes of war. He contended strongly that it would have no repercussions for the country’s long-standing policy of neutrality.

But the bill was last night described by the Labour Party, the Greens and Sinn Féin as a scandal.

Opposition defence spokespeople focused on the fact that the bill was being rushed through the Dáil in two-and-a-half hours, between 9.30pm and midnight.

Normally, legislation can take several weeks to pass through the Oireachtas, as it passes through stages in the Dáil, the Seanad and the committee stage.

According to Labour Party spokesman Joe Costello, the Government decision to push through all stages of the bill last night robbed the parliament of any meaningful chance to debate a bill that might have major implications for Irish neutrality.

“The midnight debate followed by the guillotine is no way to carry out the legislative business of this House. It is a cloak and dagger approach and it raises serious suspicions about the good faith of the Government on the issues in the bill,” he said.

The Green Party spokesman John Gormley was scathing of the legislation, for its rushed nature and what he saw as its abandonment of Irish neutrality.

“Rushing a bill through in the space of three hours, to be finally voted on at midnight, is an unacceptable way to process any legislation but particularly a bill which represents such a radical departure from our traditional defence policy.

“Indeed, the legislation — by watering down the definition of an International United Nations Force and what constitutes a UN mandate — is in contravention of the much vaunted ‘Seville Declaration ’ attached to the second Nice Treaty referendum,” he said.

Sinn Féin also described the bill as a gross infringement of Irish democracy.

Fine Gael’s criticism of the bill was that it did not go far enough. The party’s policy is that Ireland’s “triple lock” is no longer operable and that the country should abandon its traditional policy of military neutrality.

FG defence spokesman Billy Timmins said: “Fine Gael is very supportive of the development of EU battle groups. These stand- alone military forces, drawn from all EU member states, will have the capability to respond to crisis situations without delay so that genocide and crimes of war can be prevented and human life protected.”