Neutrality issue is a red herring

WE even have it in song: “On far foreign shores, from Dunkirk to Belgrade, lie the soldiers and chiefs of the Irish Brigade.”

For Taoiseach Brian Cowen to use the neutrality issue and the fear of conscription to a European army as a vote-catcher for Lisbon is a real red herring and utter hypocrisy.

We accepted all the concessions – money, status and power – that membership of the EEC and EU bestowed on us for more than a quarter of a century. In the event of the union being at war with another of the world’s great trading blocs, could we stand idly by and hope to remain unscathed?