We should not be neutral when it comes to naked military aggression

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a stark warning to everybody in Europe, including the people of Ireland, that the freedom and prosperity we have taken for granted is far more fragile than we realised. There are obvious implications across a range of policies from security and defence to energy supplies.

The Government’s immediate response to assault on Ukraine has been swift and generous, with an open-door policy for refugees fleeing the conflict and a €10 million contribution to the EU fund to support Ukrainian resistance.

In a nod to neutrality, it was felt necessary to specify that the Irish contribution should go on helmets and protective gear rather than weapons.

On the face of it, Ireland has opted out of any automatic obligation to defend another EU state

By contrast, the UK response has been to advertise loudly its support for Ukraine in the form of sophisticated military hardware but it has pointedly declined to accept many refugees, imposing a strict visa regime to limit the number of likely immigrants.

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Taoiseach Micheál Martin is in Versailles on Friday for a meeting of EU leaders and the main topic on the agenda is common defence, with energy supplies and support for the flood of refugees from the conflict also up for discussion.

French president Emmanuel Macron has been pushing for some time for a beefed-up EU defence policy and the Russian invasion has driven the issue to the top of the political agenda.

Ireland’s stance

Whatever the outcome of Friday’s EU meeting, it has become obvious that there needs to be an urgent discussion about this country’s defence and energy needs in a rapidly changing world. Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said during the week that while there was little prospect of Ireland joining Nato, he was open to more close co-operation with EU partners on defence.

How that will happen is a moot point, given the provision inserted into the Constitution in the wake of the first referendum defeat on the Lisbon Treaty. That provision, article 29.4. 9° states: “The State shall not adopt a decision taken by the European Council to establish a common defence pursuant to article 42 of the Treaty on European Union where that common defence would include the State.”

The relevant article 42 of the EU Treaty states: “If a member state is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other member states shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power, in accordance with article 51 of the United Nations Charter.”

On the face of it, Ireland has opted out of any automatic obligation to defend another EU state, even though other EU states would be obliged to come to the defence of Ireland. That does not appear to be a tenable position and it is something that should be examined and debated as a matter of urgency.

The fact that the Constitution specifies that the State should not be automatically obliged to support a European Council decision should not mean that it cannot decide on its own volition to back such a decision. However, here is where the so called “triple lock” could kick in, as the UN Security Council, whose permanent members include Russia and China, has a veto on the involvement of the Defence Forces in overseas operations.

The scale of the public outrage at the unprovoked assault on Ukraine is a clear demonstration that as far as many people are concerned, we should not be neutral when it comes to naked military aggression. Opinion polls in recent years have shown a clear majority of people in favour of co-operation in European defence and it is time that the Government began to lead the discussion in an open and frank manner.

Ideal opportunity

The recent report on the need for the allocation of significant extra resources to the Defence Forces provides an ideal opportunity to get that discussion going. The public reaction on Ukraine should embolden Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil TDs to stand up and speak their minds on the topic and not be intimidated by the inevitable accusations that they are selling out on neutrality.

They will never have a better opportunity to do so given the way some of the loudest proponents of neutrality were shameless backers of Putin over the past decade. As recently as 2019, when they were supporting Putin in the European Parliament, Sinn Féin promoted a constitutional change to prohibit Irish participation in any EU defence arrangement.

Introducing the 38th Amendment of the Constitution (Neutrality) Bill Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh condemned EU spending on defence arrangements and advised Simon Coveney: “You can take a firm stand against the EU war mongers.” Coveney rightly rejected the absurd claim that the EU was some kind of war monger, pointing out that it was the absolute opposite of that as the EU was born of a vision to end wars.

The problem now facing the EU as a whole is that while its vision is rooted in preventing war, it has to face the reality of Putin’s shocking aggression. That will require huge resources to deal with the greatest humanitarian crisis to face the continent since the second World War but it also poses the existential question for the EU about what to do if Putin invades one of its member states.