One Senator says Ireland should be sending military aid to Ukraine, accusing the country of 'Paddy Neutrality'.
Gerard Craughwell was speaking as Ireland sent non-lethal support to Ukraine, contributing around €9m to a €500m European Union fund.
But he told The Hard Shoulder this is not enough to help people on the ground.
"Of course we should be sending military aid.
"We've done a tremendous job on the hard work of bringing refugees here, of making them welcome, providing all of the services.
"The simple thing is that does nothing for the people in Mariupol today, it does nothing for the people in Donbass, it does nothing for the people in Kyiv.
"We have weapons sitting in The Curragh that we could send there."
And Senator Craughwell says Ireland's neutrality failed its only test.
"We are not neutral, we were never neutral.
"The only time we were ever tested for neutrality was between 1939 and 1945 - and we failed the test miserably."
He says: "What we have here in this country is what I term 'Paddy Neutrality'.
"We like to go around the place talking about how neutral we are, but when push comes to shove we're not".
'Non-aligned countries'
The Senator says the country has three options to choose from.
"We can be neutral, and if we want to be neutral we must fund our defence - and we've never done that.
"In fact defence has never been treated right in this country.
"Second option is we can be militarily non-aligned: that means at a time like this, the Government can choose who it wants to partner up with - but again you must fund it.
"And finally we can become aligned, and we can become aligned to an organisation like NATO.
"I don't believe we should be aligned to NATO; I think we should be part of the non-aligned group.
"There's over 100 countries in the non-aligned group, and Ireland has never joined that group".
Senator Craughwell says other neutral countries - such as Finland and Austria - are sending weapons to Ukraine.
"They have taken the position that we cannot see innocent people die".
And he says arguments around US troops using Shannon Airport are 'nonsense'.
"Shannon Airport was used once illegally, and that was at the start of the First Gulf War.
"Since then, any operation going through Shannon is covered under chapter eight of the UN Charter.
"This nonsense about Shannon Airport has to stop because it is coming on time and time again about the illegal use of Shannon.
"It is not illegal, it's covered under the UN Charter".
