By World BEYOND War, August 20, 2023
World BEYOND War supports this statement by the Irish Neutrality League:
Irish Defence Forces weapons training to Ukrainian Armed Forces an egregious and incontrovertible breach of neutrality.
Timing of information leak during Dáil recess appears to be a cynical manouevre to avoid parliamentary accountability.
Government has deliberately misled the public when insisting its support to Ukraine would not be in breach of neutrality.WEAPONS TRAINING BREACH OF NEUTRALITY
The Irish Neutrality League is wholly opposed to the government decision to direct Irish Defence Forces personnel to provide weapons training to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as reported in the Irish Times (18th August 2023). This would constitute an egregious and incontrovertible breach of neutrality. The government has until now described its support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces as “humanitarian” and “non-lethal”. This is highly contestable given that the support has included flak jackets (worn by soldiers in combat) and mine-clearance training (with the trained sappers currently clearing mines at the head of the Ukrainian counter-offensive). If Irish Defence Forces personnel are to proceed with weapons training for members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, it will represent an unprecedented contravention of Ireland’s already seriously compromised neutrality.TIMING OF LEAK TO AVOID PARLIAMENTARY ACCOUNTABILITY A CYNICAL MANOEUVRE
In addition, the Irish Neutrality League queries the timing of the information leak during the Dáil recess, which appears to be a cynical manoeuvre to avoid parliamentary accountability.GOVERNMENT HAS MISLED PUBLIC
It is clear the government has deliberately misled the public when insisting its support to Ukraine would not be in breach of neutrality.REVERSE THIS DECISION
The Irish Neutrality League demands the reversal of the government’s decision. The Irish Neutrality League also calls on grassroots members of the Green Party to stand up for the party’s stated commitment to neutrality and to resist the leadership’s ongoing erosion of a fundamental Green Party principle.
World BEYOND War encourages everyone to sign and share this petition:
2 Responses
The Irish government has eroded Irish neutrality to such an extent over the past two decades, that Ireland can no longer credibly claim to be a neutral country. This erosion began seriously in 2001 when the Irish government offered the use of Shannon airport to the US government to refuel US military and CIA aircraft on their way to and from the wars in Middle East, including for the invasions and overthrow of the governments of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, the attempted overthrow of the Syrian government, and active military operations in Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere. This was all in clear breach of international laws on neutrality. More recently the Irish Government has been actively supporting Ukraine in its war Russia, and also supporting the US, NATO and the European Union in their efforts to turn the tragic conflict in Ukraine into a proxy war against Russia. The vast majority of Irish citizens support Irish positive neutrality and its commitment to promoting international peace and global justice. The task that now confronts the Irish peace movement is to restore Irish neutrality.
Accountable government implies the strength to explain, evidence, and justify policy. Integrity can only be consistently possible at every level: individual, collective, corporate!