Martin: Partnership with Nato does not affect Irish neutrality 

Asked by Sinn Féin’s Matt Carty about what he would consider to be a breach of Irish neutrality, Defence Minister Micheál Martin said: “Neutrality is fundamentally whether you are a member of a military alliance or not. That’s how it has always been defined. Picture: David Creedon

Micheál Martin has again insisted Ireland is not joining Nato, and denied a recently-signed partnership agreement with it is “an erosion of our neutrality”.

Instead, he said Ireland needs help from a variety of different bodies to not only protect itself but to help carry out international peace-keeping duties.

The issue of neutrality came up repeatedly yesterday’s meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.

Asked by Sinn Féin’s Matt Carty about what he would consider to be a breach of Irish neutrality, the minister said: “Neutrality is fundamentally whether you are a member of a military alliance or not. That’s how it has always been defined.

“People can have variations of that if they wish, but that is how it has always been officially defined.”

Senator Gerard Craughwell later asked Mr Martin to provide a briefing document for the Dáil and the Seanad that “explains exactly what neutrality is”.

He said: “I’m tired of being asked overseas and hearing people talk about ‘Paddy neutrality’ (and) ‘neutrality militarily non-aligned’.

“There’s clearly a lack of understanding what neutrality means. I think for all of us that there should be a briefing document, so we know exactly what we mean when we say Ireland is a neutral country.”

Mr Martin said he would get the briefing document drawn up, but warned “it may not meet the definition that others have”.

“It has always, since World War Two, been the avoidance of participation in a military alliance or joining a military alliance or being part of an EU defence pact.”

Senator Alice-Mary Higgins said: “My understanding of neutrality is that neutrality is not simply the absence of a military alliance or membership.

“Neutrality is the idea that you apply international principles and international law equally to all on the basis of those principles and not on the basis of ‘we have our allies and friends’ and different laws can apply to our friends and enemies.

“That’s one of the reasons Ireland has been so effective internationally and at the UN is because it has been seen as a neutral country in that context.”

Mr Martin was also asked by Labour TD David Stanton about recent renewed calls for sanctions against Israel.

He replied: “We don’t impose sanctions unilaterally. We have imposed sanctions on settlers in the West Bank when we got agreement but it was difficult to get agreement. We did sanctions on Hamas for sexual and gender based violence that was committed on October 7.

“We do not support the policy of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions approach to this complex area. We do support EU-wide targeted sanctions and we support whole of government differentiations between Israel and illegal Israeli settlements.”

Mr Stanton also asked about Ireland’s involvement in the German-led EU Battle Group, for which Ireland’s troops will be held on stand-by and be expected to quickly deploy to trouble spots.

Two months before training was due to start this January, it was reported that just 35 Irish Defence Forces soldiers had volunteered for battlegroup duties. This was despite Ireland’s commitment at the time to contribute a 182 personnel-strong mechanized infantry company.

Mr Martin, however, told the deputy that “the size of our contribution” will be “482 participants” in different phases