The Fianna Fail Group for a PfP Referendum does exactly what it says on the tin. It is a group of Fianna Failers seeking a referendum on Ireland's proposed joining of the alleged peacekeeping entity, Partnership for Peace.
I spent an afternoon last week with members of the group. They are not Trotskyist subversives, but ordinary, decent Fianna Failers of a type that has become less visible and less vocal in recent years. They are passionate in their beliefs, yet respectful of the party leadership. They are in politics because they believe in things, and one of the things they believe in is Irish neutrality. They are proud of Fianna Fail's record in opposing military power blocs and seeking to curtail the spread of nuclear weapons in the world.
They take an especial pride in the legacy of Frank Aiken, who as minister for external affairs in the late 1950s and 1960s, blazed a trail of honour and decency through the geopolitical arena. They speak with pride about Mr Aiken's successful struggle to achieve the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, in the teeth of resistance from both the US and British governments.
What angers the group is not merely the now-imminent likelihood that this part of their heritage is to be marched into the ground, but that their own party is to the fore in denying the Irish public's right to be consulted. They emphasise that the Fianna Fail 1997 general election manifesto called for a "constructive neutrality" and reiterated the party's commitment to nuclear disarmament.
("We will oppose," the manifesto bravely declared, "any moves to edge Ireland closer to membership of an alliance committed to the deployment of nuclear weapons. We oppose Irish participation in NATO itself, in NATO-led organisations such as Partnership for Peace, or in the Western European Union, beyond observer status. Fianna Fail in government will not participate in any co-operative security structure which has implications for Irish neutrality without first consulting the people through a referendum.") The Fianna Fail Group for a PfP Referendum is small, but its members warn that they speak for many others. It would be unwise, they say, for the leadership to underestimate the genuine concerns among party rank-and-file. Even those in favour of joining NATO itself believe there should be a referendum, they maintain.
They believe the pressure on PfP derives in part from the desire of the Defence Forces to nudge policy away from neutrality to open the way for an expansion of the armed forces under NATO command. They wonder about the possibility of a connection between the requirements of industrial policy and the sudden about-turn of their own party in Government. They believe there is a deliberate policy of disinformation about the PfP.
Oddly enough, the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, who has repeatedly stated that Ireland will join the PfP in the autumn - without a referendum - has also expressed concerns on this score. Speaking to reporters in Waterford last April, he dismissed not merely the possibility of any implications for Irish neutrality by joining the PfP, but also the notion that the PfP had any connection with NATO. "This, unfortunately, was the misinformation which was put forward a few years ago", he said.
Regrettably, Mr Ahern was not specific as to the sources of the misinformation. Perhaps he had in mind the following statement by an obviously passionate advocate of Irish neutrality and vigorous opponent of Ireland's joining the PfP: "While the Government may reassure the public that there are no implications for neutrality - and that may be technically true at this time - it will be seen by other countries as a gratuitous signal that Ireland is moving away from its neutrality and towards gradual co-operation in NATO and Western European Union in due course.
"It is the thin end of the wedge which will be justified for all sorts of practical reasons and to increase our alleged influence, whereas in reality we will have no influence on alliance thinking as junior or second-class partners.
"We need to cop on to ourselves if we think we have. PfP involves joint exercises with NATO on sea or land. Will they take place in Ireland? Will we be able to choose the NATO countries with whom we wish to have exercises? Will we have British troops back in the Curragh, the French in Bantry Bay, the Germans on Banna Strand, the Spanish in Kinsale and the Americans in Lough Foyle? Is that what we are talking about, or will we take part in exercises abroad under NATO command?"
Mr Bertie Ahern (for it was he), speaking in Dail Eireann as leader of the opposition on March 28th, 1996, summarised his party's attitude as follows: "We would regard any attempt to push Partnership for Peace or participation in Western European Union tasks by resolution through this House without reference to the people who, under our Constitution have the right `in final appeal to decide on all questions of national policy', as a serious breach of faith and fundamentally undemocratic."
But, perhaps, in speaking of "misinformation", Mr Ahern had in mind rather the statement of January 28th last of his Fianna Fail colleague, Mr Michael O'Kennedy, expressing his "very strong reservations" about Ireland joining the PfP.
"Partnership for Peace is the creature of NATO, and applications for membership for the organisation must be submitted to NATO," this former minister for both foreign affairs and defence stated - misinformatively? Mr O'Kennedy also made reference to the fact that much of the pressure to join PfP emanates from vested interests and non-elected quarters.
It was of some concern, he said, "that views are now being expressed by people other than the elected representatives of this Oireachtas in support of our projected membership of Partnership of Peace. These include the current Secretary-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, who has publicly expressed the view that `It is curious that Ireland had not decided to become a member of Partnership for Peace', and the former chief-of-staff, Lieut Gen McMahon, who expressed concern that we would be likely to be isolated as a peacekeeping force if we did not join Partnership for Peace".
Mr O'Kennedy also alleged that many of the members of PfP were "vigorously engaged" in the "unspeakable" arms industry, which he called "one of the greatest scandals of the current age": "Since the foundation of the State, and particularly during the tenure of office as Minister for External Affairs of the late Frank Aiken, Ireland has consistently opposed the spread of armaments throughout the world and has initiated many resolutions at the United Nations against the dissemination of conventional and nuclear arms."
Mr O'Kennedy is not now, nor has he ever been, a member of the Fianna Fail Group for a PfP Referendum.