Irish Examiner view: President Higgins has helped to pique interest in the neutrality issue 

The matter of Irish military neutrality has rarely had so much airplay

The Consultative Forum on International Security Policy has commanded unprecedented headlines in the last week or so thanks to President Michael D Higgins' intervention on the line-up of contributors.

Every reader following the news will be well aware that the Consultative Forum on International Security Policy begins in Cork on Thursday, with experts on hand to discuss aspects of Irish security policy ranging from cybersecurity threats to the State’s neutrality.

It’s rare to have had so much discussion of a debate before that debate formally begins, but perhaps President Michael D Higgins can be thanked for that. The forum has commanded unprecedented headlines in the last week or so thanks to his intervention on the line-up of contributors, and on forum chair Louise Richardson in particular. The President’s apology to Prof Richardson was a natural conclusion to that news cycle, but awareness of the forum is now far higher than it was beforehand.

It has been mildly entertaining to listen to so much evaluation of the President’s constitutional entitlement to intervene on such matters, even if some of those evaluations have been on a par with what we heard from amateur epidemiologists pontificating on viruses during the pandemic. 

However, an alternative appraisal of Mr Higgins’s intervention might suggest that it was the best development imaginable for the forum. It is fair to say that this series of meetings was hardly at the forefront of the public consciousness before Mr Higgins broke his silence. In that, he has done an immense favour to the forum organisers, as the matter of Irish military neutrality, in particular, has rarely had so much airplay.

The depth of feeling in the debate sparked off by the President’s comments tells its own story; it is eloquent testimony to the deep-rooted attachment in Ireland to neutrality. Any alteration to the State’s position in that regard would be hugely significant both within the State itself and in terms of our external commitments.

Accordingly, the matter requires careful discussion, with the implications of any potential change in policy examined closely. The upcoming forum is an ideal venue for that discussion.