Whatever happened to our neutrality?

It would appear despite the massive cuts, the Fine Gael/Labour Government have imposed in health, education and social welfare in order to repay the bondholders, they intend to find the money to send Irish troops to war-torn Mali.

British prime minister David Cameron has called it a “generational war”. When all of Ireland was part of the British Union between 1801 and 1919, Irish soldiers in the regiments of the British Union did exactly that — take part in a war in every one of those years. Over 30% of the British army were Irish for much of that period, and many Irish political leaders actively supported these wars.

So it is clear that Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamonn Gilmore, in committing Irish soldiers to once again take part in a generational war, this time on behalf of the EU, are not licking it off the stones. Throughout our time in the British union however, from the United Irishmen, the Fenians, the Irish Citizen Army to Fianna Fáil under Éamon de Valera, there were those who opposed our participation in imperial wars. That tradition has not gone away. So, in the year that marks the foundation of the Irish Volunteers, they can expect opposition from those of us who believe in Irish democracy, neutrality and independence.