ANALYSIS: Legislation may be needed to allow us take part in EU-led missions,writes Deaglán de Bréadún
Not many people know that there are over 3,000 Irish citizens in Zimbabwe. They are, in fact, the second largest contingent from any EU member-state in that troubled African country. The British top the list, of course, with more than 25,000.
Now picture this: the current unrest in Zimbabwe develops into full-scale strife. Contrary to current rumours that he may step down, President Robert Mugabe instead decides that, even at 79, he wants to remain in power indefinitely. Violence spreads and intensifies, with citizens of the EU, no friend of the Harare regime, becoming a target.
In this imaginary but not implausible scenario, lives are in imminent danger, including Irish ones, and the EU decides to send a military mission to bring people out of the danger zone. Irish people in Zimbabwe find themselves being evacuated by European soldiers, say Swedish or Finnish, but of their Celtic compatriots there is no sign.
When the terrified Irish emigrants regain sufficient composure to inquire what happened to the soldiers in green, they are told: "Your Government could not send troops to save you because the mission doesn't have a United Nations mandate."
This is the type of scenario advanced by those who believe the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, had a point in Brussels recently when he suggested there was a need to consider changing defence legislation to allow for greater flexibility in the despatch of Irish troops on overseas missions.
There is another point of view, expressed frequently and with great emphasis during the two referendums on the Nice Treaty and in the more recent protests against US use of Shannon Airport as a transit facility for the Iraqi war.
In this alternative scenario, the Government and military establishment are secretly moving to undermine our neutrality and bind us hand and foot to a militarised EU.
Just as the constitutional nationalist John Redmond urged young Irishmen to join up and march to their doom in the first World War, so too the policies of our current political leaders will see the flower of Irish youth being laid waste in another overseas conflagration, brought about to satisfy the neo-imperial desires of the larger EU member-states.
Like so much else in politics, it is a matter of trust. There is some embarrassment in political and military circles that Irish troops are not taking part in the current EU peace mission in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, which replaced a NATO force.
Although it is a small mission of about 350 troops, its significance lies in that it is the first military operation led by the EU. As an EU member, Ireland was a party to the launching of the mission and, during its recent stint on the Security Council, Ireland took a lead role in securing the unanimous adoption of Resolution 1371 which expressed the "strong support" of the UN for a multinational security presence in Macedonia .
But it wasn't sufficient. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, explained to the Dáil early last month, legal advice from the Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady, indicated that the "particular expression of UN endorsement" for the operation did not "fully" meet the requirements specified in the Defence Acts for participation.
The Defence (Amendment) Act, 1960, permits Irish troops to be "despatched for service outside the State as part of a United Nations Emergency Force" and it must be "for the performance of duties of a police character".
The Defence (Amendment) Act, 1993, specifies that it must be "an international force or body established by the Security Council or the General Assembly of the UN".
There had, in fact, been a UN military mission in Macedonia up to 1999, but a renewal of its mandate was vetoed by China because of displeasure over Macedonia's decision to open diplomatic relations with Taiwan, a government which Beijing regards as illegitimate.
It's all a little embarrassing for the Government as it faces into a six-month term in the EU presidency at the start of next year. Security issues, as the EU foreign policy chief, Dr Javier Solana, made clear in Dublin last week, will be a major item on the agenda. What price Ireland's credibility, some would ask.
The "national declaration" on neutrality, issued by the Government at the European Summit in Seville last June, may have helped ensure acceptance of the Nice Treaty in the second referendum but it made changing current legislation that bit more difficult.
The declaration reiterated that Irish participation in overseas military missions, "including those carried out under the European Security and Defence Policy", required the authorisation of the operation by the UN Security Council or General Assembly.
While there is a feeling in military circles that refining the legislation as soon as possible to allow for participation in EU-led missions is essential, there is no great sense of urgency emanating from Iveagh House. Mr Cowen is believed to be less-than-grateful to his Cabinet colleague for his recent public musings and to be distinctly unenthusiastic about any tinkering with the legislation that might stir up a hornet's nest of opposition and scare scenarios, especially since the next EU mission is likely to be in Bosnia, taking over responsibility from NATO, and this already has the all-important UN mandate. But if Irish nuns and aid workers were in imminent danger in some far-flung destination, all that could change overnight.