Ireland in `time warp' on neutrality

The ability of other neutral states in Europe to participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace (PFP) arrangement suggests Ireland is living in a "time warp" on the issue of neutrality, according to the chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr Des O'Malley.

Mr O'Malley was speaking during a meeting of the committee earlier this week which was addressed by the ambassadors of Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Finland, all of whom said their countries were enthusiastic participants in PFP, despite their non-aligned status.

Mr O'Malley said the ambassadors' reports should spark a debate in Ireland, which was now isolated in Europe on the issue of security. "The debate, insofar as there is one, has been dismissive," he said. If there was a proper debate "we wouldn't be living in the kind of time warp that we are so far as security is concerned".

One of the ambassadors, Mr Willy Hold of Switzerland, admitted difficulty in explaining Ireland's position to a Swiss audience. Answering a question from Fine Gael's Mr Gay Mitchell, he said it was not for him to comment on the policies of other countries. But he added: "I am sometimes asked in Switzerland how a country that has been so active in the United Nations for 40 years, that has participated in so many operations with so many Irish citizens dying - more than 70, I believe - why it would not join in another organisation where the risks in human terms are probably less and where there is much more of a consensus approach than in the UN. I am asked this and I have to say I'm still working on a coherent answer".

Mr O'Malley said one of the reasons for inviting the ambassadors was that their countries were "traditionally regarded as neutral and yet none of them had any difficulty joining PFP". Ireland was in the "anomalous" position of not being involved in the arrangement, because it was seen by some to be "NATO under another name".

But the leader of Democratic Left, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, differed sharply with Mr O'Malley, accusing him of "overstating the case" in suggesting Ireland was isolated: "We're not isolated, we're members of the UN and . . . at this moment we have troops in Bosnia".

He said that what was striking about all the ambassadors' reports was that none of the countries represented appeared to want to join NATO, and were participating in the PFP "very much on their own terms". The DL leader added that he would like a NATO representative to address the committee and Mr O'Malley said such a move had already been agreed.