Ireland is not neutral about Ukraine, Taoiseach insists in renewed row over constitutional position

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that Ireland is not neutral about Ukraine, in a renewed Dáil row with People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett over the Government’s position on State neutrality.

Mr Boyd Barrett claimed there was “further evidence of the Government trying to soften up public opinion to abandoning Ireland’s neutrality”.

The two have previously clashed over Ukraine and the implications for Irish neutrality.

Mr Martin has repeatedly insisted that “Ireland’s official policy is to be militarily non-aligned. We are, however, not politically non-aligned”.

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But Mr Boyd Barrett said on Tuesday that Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney had made comments that “we were not neutral” in relation to the conflict in Ukraine. “This begs the question of what neutrality means if we abandon it when there is a conflict.”

He pointed out that Mr Coveney also said that “people should talk to the Russians. We all condemn Putin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine but isn’t it precisely the role of a neutral country to be the voice on the international stage that argues for a peaceful resolution to conflict”.

The Dun Laoghaire TD asked, “how we can tally that with the repeated statements of various ministers about rethinking neutrality” and the presence of representatives of the State at the Ukraine contact group. He said this was establishing military alliances to get them involved in the Ukrainian conflict.

When the Taoiseach said that “neutrality in Ireland has meant that Ireland is not a member of a military alliance”, Mr Boyd Barrett insisted “that’s the Government position but it’s not Ireland’s position”.

Mr Martin countered, however, that it has been the Government’s “official position for a long time that Ireland is not a member of such an alliance, and this has been repeated consistently in legislation”.

He expressed surprise at Mr Boyd Barrett’s criticism of Mr Coveney for saying Ireland is not neutral towards Ukraine.

“We are not [neutral]”, the Taoiseach said. “We are not politically neutral in respect of Ukraine. Russia has invaded Ukraine. How could we be neutral?”

He said, “this is not a conflict between two countries. This was an invasion by one country with an imperialist 19th-century perspective that believes it has a right to say that its neighbour does not have a right to exist.”

He said Russia had taken the view that ”we are taking over that neighbour. We are going to invade it and, with all of the military power that we have, we will bomb residential targets and infrastructure, and you have to come to heel’”.

He added that Russia had also said that “the rest of the world should stay neutral on this and let us get about our business because this is alongside where we live.”’

The Taoiseach insisted that “we cannot accept that premise.

“As a result, we can’t be neutral on the matter. We just cannot be neutral on it.”

Mr Boyd Barrett acknowledged that it was an “outrageous invasion”, but he said the Government did not take this approach on neutrality when it came to the Iraq war.

Mr Martin rounded on him for his comments. He said he was “absolutely shocked that the Deputy is saying we should be neutral in respect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“That is shocking. I disagree fundamentally with the Deputy. I will not be neutral on something of that kind.”