Ireland’s neutrality is becoming intolerable to many in the EU, according to details of a Department of Defence briefing that recently became public. 

Officials reportedly stated that this is due to geopolitical tension and the recent admissions of Finland and Sweden into NATO. 

Security and defence analyst Declan Power told Newstalk Breakfast that no one is “banging on the door for us to join NATO”. 

“We are involved with a variety of defence cooperative structures within the European Union's PESCO arrangement,” he said. 

“Indeed, within NATO [we’re involved in] a number of subgroups that relate to undersea infrastructure and cybersecurity and other things of that nature. 

“I suppose what you could say is that our European neighbours, to be quite honest ... all that they would as of us is that we adhere to our own defence responsibilities that we don’t leave chinks in the armour that would affect other European countries.” 

Irish Defence Forces arm patch of a soldier in the Irish Army. Image: Andy Gibson / Alamy. 19 October 2016

People Before Profit TD for Dublin South West Paul Murphy said that “a new arms race” is putting our neutrality “under significant pressure”. 

“Over €2,000 billion was spent globally on arms, almost a 7% increase on the year before,” he said. 

“There is a new division in the world, effectively between the great powers of the US on the one side and its allies, and China and Russia and their allies on the other side. 

“There’s pressure to join in in this division of the world and to be involved in more and more European military projects and eventually join NATO - I think that’s where this road ends.” 

'Imperialist camps'

Deputy Murphy said that we should not align ourselves with either side. 

“We saw and see the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s Russia, we have seen over the past 15 months a slaughter of 50,000 Palestinians, funded and armed by the leaders of NATO,” he said. 

“So, both of these imperialist camps have their own interests at play – they're not looking out for ordinary people in Gaza, in Ukraine or anywhere else.” 

However, Mr Power said this is a “redundant conversation” as we have made our decision already and “are lockstep in the European Union”.          

Main image: A cardboard sign at protest against invasion of Ukraine in Helsinki, Finland. Image: Jani-Markus Häsä / Alamy. 26 February 2022