The Minister for Foreign Affairs has rejected a claim by the Workers' Party that Ireland has contributed to a document on European defence planning, thus compromising Irish neutrality.
The claim was made yesterday by Workers' Party general secretary Mr Pat Quearney, who quoted from a document of the Assembly of the Western European Union called "WEU after Amsterdam". This document deals with defence planning and the WEU role in a future common European defence strategy.
In a section dealing with the EU's neutral and non-aligned member-states, the document says: "The annual report of the [WEU] Council informs the Assembly that Austria, Finland, Ireland and Sweden have submitted to the Council a contribution on the participation of non-allied observers in the defence planning process, and that this document has been forwarded to NATO."
Mr Quearney said his party wanted to know what was in this Irish contribution. He said it compromised Irish neutrality. "How does the Government square `defence planning' with peacekeeping and their claims that the Amsterdam Treaty will not affect Ireland's neutrality?"
However, Mr Andrews last night dismissed the suggestion it had compromised neutrality. The document related only to the future participation of neutral states in the so-called Petersberg Tasks, which include peacemaking, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, he said. It made the neutrals' case that they should be involved on an equal basis in the decision-making process relating to any such tasks in which they became involved. This point was subsequently specifically included in the Amsterdam Treaty text.
"What is involved here is the issue of planning for peacekeeping and other Petersberg tasks such as search and rescue and humanitarian missions," Mr Andrews said. "This is entirely consistent with our traditional commitment to peacekeeping and has no implications whatsoever for our military neutrality."
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said it was a "misnomer" for the document to be described as relating to defence planning, as it related only to the Petersberg Tasks. He said the Department would not release the text of the document as it had been drawn up in collaboration with three other states, and it was therefore not for the Government to release it.
Meanwhile, the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) has called for a No vote on Amsterdam, followed by a renegotiation of the treaty. Such a renegotiation would allow the insertion of a protocol specifically excluding Ireland from any decisions or actions of the EU with defence implications. Denmark has already obtained such a protocol.
"By supporting this protocol the Irish people in the Republic will maintain a policy of Irish neutrality and demonstrate their unwillingness to support the steady transformation of the EU into a nuclear armed federal superstate", a PANA statement said.
The National Platform has rejected suggestions that a vote against the Amsterdam Treaty is a vote to leave the EU. Such a claim was dishonest, it said in a statement.
"Voting No will put a stop to the proposed military alliance between the Western European Union and the EU. Foreign policy remains where it rightfully belongs: with national states. There will be no collusion in military adventures disguised as `peacemaking'."
A No vote would also stop the ceding of powers to Brussels and "the coercion of smaller states by majority voting . . . By voting No we vote for peace, equality and democracy in Europe."