The Green Party and the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) have called on the Government to turn down an invitation from the United States for Irish participation in maritime training exercises held under the aegis of the Partnership for Peace (PFP).
The Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, said yesterday there was absolutely no need for Irish naval vessels to participate in the military exercises in the Baltic this summer.
A request for an Irish naval patrol vessel has been issued by the US defence attache to the Department of Defence.
The Irish branch of the Nautical Institute, which represents mercantile and naval seafarers, has urged the Department to accept, saying it would enhance Naval Service expertise in search-and-rescue, pollution control and other non-military taskings.
BaltOps, as the exercise is known, takes place annually in the Baltic Sea and involves ships from many countries, including neutral states like Finland and Sweden. The Republic has sent observers twice within the last five years, but has never sent a ship. The training includes disaster relief, drug interdiction and the policing of an exclusion zone.
The US Coast Guard usually sends pollution control teams and experts in disaster operations.
"These exercises are linked to the NATO-led PfP and have a military dimension which involves anti-submarine warfare," Mr Gormley said in a statement.
"We already have adequate air and sea rescue expertise. The Green Party sees this as a softening-up exercise for the PFP. If the Government agrees to these naval manoeuvres, they will be pre-empting the debate and the democratic decision-making process on PFP."
Mr Gormley said one of the Green Party's main concerns about PFP was that Irish troops could find themselves operating under NATO leadership anywhere in the world.
"What are the US Coast Guard doing in the Baltic Sea in the first place? They appear to have sailed a long way from their US coastline remit."
The Peace and Neutrality Alliance, a lobby group concerned about neutrality, said it was "bitterly" opposed to acceptance of the invitation.
Responding to the Nautical Institute statement this week in support of participation, and recent statements made by the Defence Forces representative organisations, RACO and PDFORRA, in favour of PFP membership, Mr Roger Cole, of PANA, accused the Defence Forces of "interfering in what is fundamentally a political decision".
"The logic of this is that the same representatives will be recommending NATO membership," Mr Cole said. PANA favoured Irish participation in peacekeeping under the UN, but Irish taxpayers would be required to fund participation under the PFP if the Republic joined, he added.
PANA favours a referendum on PFP membership and has accused Fianna Fail of reneging on its opposition to the NATO-aligned grouping.
