Ireland's neutrality does not prevent the Defence Forces taking part in NATO-led operations, the Minister for Foreign Affairs has said.
Mr Cowen also said Ireland had never been politically neutral, and the Government had to take such factors as US inward investment into Ireland, its role in the peace process and "ties of blood and kinship" into account when deciding its stance on international disputes involving the US.
Speaking on RTÉ radio's Marian Finucane show yesterday, Mr Cowen said Ireland's policy of neutrality was not in itself a sufficient condition for \ international peace and security.
"It has never been the case that \ involves isolationism or that we are indifferent to the affairs of the world. It involves military neutrality."
Asked if our neutrality was "just military" he said, "Yes, and that's what it always was. We've never been politically neutral.
"If you look at the five European states at the moment who are neutral or non-aligned - Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Austria and Switzerland - there's no conformity of approach in respect to the exercise of that policy in those five countries.
"The essential characteristic is that none of these countries is part of a military alliance. We are not members of mutual defence pacts. We're not members of NATO. It's not the intention of Ireland to join NATO."
This intention not to join NATO, however, did not mean the Irish Defence Forces were precluded from taking part in UN-mandated NATO-led operations, such as that in Kosovo and Bosnia.
He said the deployment of 850 Irish troops in the EU's NATO-allied Rapid Reaction Force had nothing to do with neutrality.
"The EU security and defence policy recognises the primacy of the UN in collective security and is providing for an improved capacity to deal with a situation that could arise on the Continent.
"We saw what happened in Yugoslavia. We're in the real world here, we're in the modern world and we have a role to play which is consistent with our foreign policy traditions."
He did not think Ireland could discharge its responsibilities as a member of the UN "by sitting back and letting everyone else do the work."
Asked how he thought the deployment of Irish troops at Shannon Airport to protect US air-craft would appear to the Iraqis, Mr Cowen said he did not know.
"The issue here is that airport had to be secured." The fact of the matter, he said, was that the peace protesters at Shannon had "crossed a line". "That is not tolerable. It goes beyond legitimate protest and you've got to deal with that situation credibly."
Mr Cowen confirmed that US aircraft en route to the Gulf region were not being inspected by Irish officials to ensure they were complying with the legal requirement that aircraft be neither armed nor carrying intelligence-gathering equipment.
They were not inspected "because we accept that it's international standard practice that that is the situation".
Any Iraqi plane wishing to pass though Shannon would have to assure the Irish authorities it was complying with the same regulations and would not be inspected, he added. He did not expect an Iraqi request for aircraft to pass through.
If the US decided to "go it alone" and to begin hostilities against Iraq without a UN mandate, he said, the Government would review the policy (of allowing US military planes and civilian planes carrying US troops to stop at Shannon) at that stage and initiate a debate in the Dáil.
Asked about the role US investment in Ireland played in Government decisions about permission for US planes to use Shannon, Mr Cowen said: "Inward investment into Ireland has been a major factor of our prosperity.
"It continues to play a major role in the whole question of our peace process. These are all factors that need to be taken into account. It doesn't mean we're a military ally of the United States, " the Minister said.
