Sir, – Like Justin Kilcullen (Letters, April 19th), I have been involved professionally over a number of years in former Warsaw Pact countries and former Yugoslavia in EU-funded projects aimed at developing their economies. Trade and economic development are important to them but national security is more important and takes precedence over trade development. This consideration has recently become more acute.
In a world where the choices are stark – between life and death – the subtlety of our neutrality policy is not appreciated. While this policy may have served us well in the past, our sideline spectator posture is now surely past its sell-by date. – Yours, etc,
COLLUM MacDONNELL,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – I could not have been the only reader to raise a wry smile at Martyn Turner’s cartoon (April 19th), which ably mocked the recalcitrance of Nato and the EU on the issue of sending weapons to Ukraine. Surely it was a bit odd, though, to publish such a biting criticism in the flagship newspaper of a country which has usable weapons it could send to Ukraine, but chooses not to? – Yours, etc,
JOHN McGUIRK,
Curraghduff,
Co Tipperary.
Sir, – It’s rather troubling to find that the only letters published by The Irish Times over the past two days on the results of The Irish Times/Ipsos poll of April 15th, where two-thirds of those polled supported our present model of military neutrality, have been penned by writers opposed to this result. What is disturbing about the attitudes of these letter writers is their denigration of the democratic right of the majority of Irish people not to be part of nuclear-armed military alliances like Nato and not to be supplying lethal weaponry to Ukraine. They see that the way forward for Ireland is to jettison military neutrality and our traditional commitment to the resolution of conflict by negotiated and peaceful means.
Irish people should not have to feel ashamed because we are not part of the international military-industrial complex. We have the democratic right to determine our own independent way forward in an increasingly interconnected world without feeling inferior.
The further militarisation of Europe and our world is not the way forward. For example, solidarity with Ukraine can be expressed by biting economic sanctions; the Russian war machine could be stopped in its tracks very quickly if Europe stopped buying buying its oil and gas. What our Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has achieved by reporting back to the UN Security Council on the scenes of war crimes he visited in Bucha and by contributing an extra €3 million to the International Criminal Court are examples of what a small military neutral country like Ireland can contribute to our solidarity for a peaceful and just world order. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – It is clear that a significant majority of Irish citizens value our neutrality. To make such a stand more meaningfully effective and relevant, perhaps Ireland needs to align itself with similar-minded countries and become an honest, standalone broker in international conflict resolution. It’s said historically that when all wars end, outcomes are ultimately decided around a table. Can Ireland, with others, not use its status as a neutral country to help stop wars from beginning by facilitating the expeditious sitting of people around that same table? It would seem like money well spent. – Yours, etc,
TOMÁS FINN,
Cappataggle,
Ballinasloe,
Co Galway.