No 'knee-jerk' reaction to issues around Ireland’s neutrality as Tánaiste plans public forum

The Tánaiste is to bring plans to Cabinet to hold a four-day public forum on the State’s foreign and security policy, including Ireland’s neutrality

Michael McGrath said there will be no “immediate changes” to foreign policy ahead of the Tánaiste’s plans to have a consultative forum. Picture: RollingNews.ie

There will be no "knee-jerk" reaction to issues surrounding Ireland’s neutrality, the Finance Minister has said.

Michael McGrath said there will be no “immediate changes” to foreign policy ahead of the Tánaiste’s plans to have a consultative forum.

The Tánaiste is to bring plans to Cabinet on Wednesday to hold a four-day public forum on the State’s foreign and security policy, including Ireland’s neutrality. Mr McGrath said the meetings in June will look at the “broader context” of international security policy and “not specifically the issue of neutrality.” 

He said the forum, which will involve experts as well as members of the public, will examine Ireland’s role in peacekeeping and international conflict resolution as well as neutrality.

The outcome of the forum will then inform and guide whether the Tánaiste will bring forward policy change.

“I think we have to look at the wider context of these issues, international security is rapidly changing, the nature of disagreements is changing all the time,” he said.

Mr McGrath said cyber security is among the “rapidly evolving issues” that need to be examined.

Defence Forces

Separately, Mr McGrath said it is a “welcome development” that an investigation has been launched into allegations of abuse within the Defence Forces.

“I’ve always believed that criminal issues should always be dealt with by An Garda Síochána and not by any other body,” he said. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said gardaí are already investigating reports of sexual assault in the Defence Forces dating back as far as the 1960s.

Mr McGrath said he hopes the announcement will give victims within the Defence Forces confidence to come forward. He described the findings of the independent review group’s (IRG) report as “appalling” and said criminal matters should be dealt with accordingly by An Garda Síochána and the courts system.

“We’ve had some appalling really revelations in the past number of weeks,” he said.