PFP not backdoor to Nato

IRELAND'S participation in the Partnership for Peace (PFP) programme was not a "backdoor" to Nato, the Minister of State, Ms Joan Burton said

Replying to a series of statements on the White Paper on Foreign Policy, Ms Burton said PEP was a novel concept in international security co operation and it was disappointing there should be so much misconception of it.

"PEP is not a military alliance, nor is it a backdoor for Irish entry into Nato. It is an inclusive cooperative venture with significant value in the areas of training for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, environmental protection and drugs interdiction.

"The overall objectives of PEP, as the White Paper makes clear, are consistent with Ireland's approach to peace and security and participation could have important advantages for Ireland."

Ms Burton said the Government believed that a willingness to participate on a case by case basis to tasks would be in keeping with Ireland's commitment to international peace. But there should be no doubt about Ireland's neutrality.

Mr Trevor Sargent (Green Party, Dublin North) said the White Paper demonstrated that the Government proposed carrying on with things as they were while "a bit of aid" could be occasionally be thrown in the direction of the poor. That was not living in the real world. "The rich are getting richer although they are few in number. And the Earth is losing millions of tons of topsoil every year and cannot feed its people. In much of the soil that remains for agriculture, people have no choice but to grow tea, coffee, pineapples and cocoa beans to sell in repayment for loans lent by the rich banks of the West."

To promote peaceful coexistence he urged decision makers to live by the maxim of the Green movement - "Think globally, act locally". The first world, of which Ireland was a part, was consuming over and above what the Earth could sustain.