Irish Neutrality Further Undermined By Hard Training And Soft Propaganda
The last two weeks of August bore witness to two very different assaults on Irish neutrality. The first occurred on August 18th when it was publicly confirmed that the Dublin government has given the green light for Ukrainian soldiers to be given weapons training in addition to the ‘non-lethal’ training which had been previously announced.
Despite the laughable government claims to the contrary, the decision to provide lethal military training to an army that is involved in an active war, represents a major and unprecedented departure from the policy of Irish neutrality.
On August 25th, the second assault on neutrality began, with the arrival of the USS Mesa Verda in Dublin port. The ‘courtesy visit’ of the 200m long warship coincided with an American football game between two visiting US teams; Notre Dame and Navy.
US military personnel stand guard in Dublin docks with the USS Mesa Verda and Osprey aircraft in the background.
The following day saw three Osprey military aircraft from the Mesa Verde fly in formation across Dublin and over the Aviva Stadium while the game was taking place - a very loud and very visible demonstration of the Dublin government’s highly partisan version of ‘neutrality’.
The decisions to provide lethal training to Ukrainian troops and to allow Dublin to be used as the backdrop for the soft propaganda of the US military were not taken in a vacuum. They were taken in the context of a Dublin government that is actively working to undermine the principle of neutrality - a principal that has, at least nominally, guided foreign policy since the foundation of the state.
Of course, there is nothing new about the undermining of neutrality. Many within the Irish political establishment have long wanted to end neutrality and replace it with membership of NATO and/or an EU military alliance. Their strategy of choice has been to kill neutrality through a death of a thousand cuts.
Three US Osprey military aircraft flying over the Aviva Stadium.
In the eighteen months since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine those cuts have come faster, deeper and more brazen than ever before. With each cut, the Dublin government aims to hollow out neutrality to the point that it no longer exists in any meaningful sense of the word.
Those who think that the battle for Irish neutrality will be fought in a future referendum campaign are gravely mistaken. The Dublin government intend to overcome the ‘problem’ of widespread popular support for neutrality by simply ignoring it.
There will be no referendum on abandoning neutrality or joining NATO until the government of the day is confident that the such a vote return the ‘right’ answer - until a referendum amounts to nothing more than a rubber stamping exercise to align the de jure with the de facto.
This cannot be allowed to happen. Those who value and support Irish neutrality need to get organised now - to take a stand now - to highlight and challenge each and every attempt to undermine Irish neutrality - to stop the death of a thousand cuts. Éirígí is ready for the fight to defend Irish neutrality. If you are too, join us today.