Irish Examiner view: President's comments on neutrality spark a war of words

President Michael D Higgins' comments on neutrality came ahead of the forthcoming four-day public consultation forum on international security policy that begins in UCC on Thursday.

Ireland is facing a moral and existential challenge in the coming weeks and months as the issue of our country’s neutrality comes sharply into focus.

The intervention by President Michael D Higgins into the national debate on Ireland’s neutrality in the past few days sparked, in parts, anger, shock and, in some cases, accusations of unfairness, as he said the country was engaged in a “dangerous drift” in foreign policy.

Many felt the President had overstepped a line with his remarks, especially as his office is not supposed to be a political one. 

However, many others lauded his willingness to express his views on a thorny issue which has seen the current administration accused of steering the country away from its well-established stance on neutrality.

His comments came ahead of the forthcoming four-day public consultation forum on international security policy that begins in UCC on Thursday before moving to the University of Galway on Friday and spending two days in Dublin Castle next week.

It is important to remember that the forum is not intended as a policy-making body but rather as having an advisory capacity in shaping Ireland’s future security position in a world of rapidly changing geopolitics.

In that context, it is expected to provide a timely and much-needed overview of our role in international politics.

It is also worth remembering that our neutrality has, down the years, strengthened the worldview of Ireland as an honest and independent broker with peaceable and unaligned motives. 

That stance has seen us garner enough international support to be voted onto the United Nations Security Council on several occasions as a reasoned and independent voice on international affairs.

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Our unwavering support of UN peacekeeping efforts around the world since the 1960s has also given us an international credibility we would have found difficult to engender had we not been so willing to play an active part.

This publication is not advocating an end to our neutrality, but in the light of recent world events it is only right and proper that we have a mature discussion on all aspects of our international security and not simply skewed misrepresentations by often malign players.

President Higgins’ views on the matter, educated by years of political activism and steadfast beliefs, are worth listening to; but so too are those of very many others and the intention of the forum is to distil those various opinions into something that will reflect a modern Ireland in terms of a robust foreign policy.

This is not a time when Ireland has to decide if it is to join Nato, or any other defence organisation, but it is another opportunity to discuss the need for vital exchequer spending on the defences of this country.

These are discussions very well worth having and we can only hope the forum this week will spark an even-handed debate on issues which many hold dear in an increasingly polarised international political world.