A GOOD Friday vigil focusing on neutrality, will be held today outside the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin. The vigil is an annual event organised by the social justice organisation AFrI (Action from Ireland) and each, year focuses on a different issue related to social justice, peace and human rights.
The organisation said the "justice liturgy" this year would focus on the "erosion of Ireland's neutrality and the proposed involvement of Ireland in a Partnership for Peace with Nato".
Last year, to mark the 50th anniversary of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, a Good Friday vigil was held outside the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin.
The AFrI co ordinator Mr Joe Murray, said yesterday the group was concerned about the use of such terms as "partnership for peace" and "humanitarian activity" and feared such terms were being used "as a means of moving Ireland by stealth into a European defence role".
Following readings, music and symbolic action at the Department of Foreign Affairs, the participants will walk to the offices of the European Parliament in Molesworth Street.