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Sat 04 Apr 2009Ireland should join in security and defence of EU, says Timmins
IRELAND should abandon neutrality and play its part in European Union security and defence and help design its future development, Fine Gael TD Billy Timmins told the Fine Gael Ardfheis.
“For many years Ireland has wrapped itself in the comfort blanket of neutrality. It became a byword for ambiguity in our international relations policy,” Mr Timmins said. Declaring that it is now “time to seriously revisit the issue”, he said. “Ireland has never, in any event, been neutral in internationally-recognised terms, since Irish attitudes were identified by opposition to Britain.
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