Is Ireland in danger of becoming a de facto British protectorate?

Deals with the British and EU to protect our seaboard mean we are no longer truly neutral, but we can’t fight for ourselves either, writes Defence Correspondent Sean O’Riordan

A few years ago it was revealed that the Irish government had reached a secret agreement with Britain that the RAF (Royal Air Force) would protect Irish skies as we didn’t have any fighter jets to do the job. Picture: File photo

Is Ireland becoming a type of British protectorate, and can we keep pretending we are neutral when experts here and in other nations must think it’s patently obvious we are not?

These are questions the Irish public will have to mull over in the months ahead, because, whether we like it or not, where we officially stand, or who we side with has been brought glaringly into the spotlight by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.