Joining Partnership for Peace is a routine foreign policy decision and does not affect Ireland's policy of military neutrality, according to the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton.

During a lengthy debate on PfP, Mr Bruton said there was no mutual defence commitment and so Ireland's policy of military neutrality was not affected.

However, Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) said PfP was "an association of states for military action". It did not benefit peace "but answers to the agenda, primarily of the war-mongers and manufacturers of the obscene weapons of awful destruction. Any honest assessment of PfP must conclude that it is first and last a tool of NATO."

Mr Bruton said many deputies had "internalised a romantic version of de Valera's achievement in maintaining neutrality between 1939 and 1945 in a way that de Valera himself never romanticised it".

He added that the Taoiseach last week had told the Dail that a "mutual defence pact is not even on the agenda of this European Union's common foreign security policy".

However the Meath TD said that in June this year, Mr Ahern agreed at the Cologne European Council with the statement that the council intended to give the EU the necessary means to assume its responsibilities regarding a common European policy on security and defence.

The Fine Gael leader said that "opting out of commitments relieves us of burden but it does not relieve us of responsibility. Opting out of commitment may mean that we will have no say in what is decided, but it does not mean that we will be unaffected by what is decided. That is the dilemma that Ireland will have to face in the negotiations." Mr Charles Flanagan (FG, Laois-Offaly) said joining PfP "is wholly consistent with the building of peace and prosperity among culturally diverse European states. Anything less is a cop-out of Pontius Pilate proportions."

Mr Jack Wall (Labour, Kildare South) accused Fianna Fail of abusing "cherished concepts such as neutrality and democracy for its own selfish electoral benefit". Mr Wall said if there was an immediate referendum he would vote in favour. He believed that the future development of the Defence Forces should happen in an international context. "I do not believe that the Irish Defence Forces should be required to remain `hurlers on the ditch'."

Mr Sean Power (FF, Kildare South) said ail about membership of Partnership for Peace, but those obvious Fianna Fail concerns on PfP were understandable. "However if people look in detail at what is involved they will see the benefits of membership for us and the benefits we can bring to others, given the tremendous contribution PfP has made to world peace in less than six years."

Ms Mildred Fox (Ind, Wicklow) outlined her opposition to joining PfP and reiterated her intention to vote against the Government. She said the Government did not have a mandate to accept PfP.

Opposition deputies kept the debate running for more than three hours until midnight last night to ensure it will continue when the Dail resumes the week after next.