Sir, - I am greatly saddened by recent events concerning the FAI and Yugoslavia. Sadly, this situation has once again shown us the moral cowardice and self-interest that are slowly becoming a hallmark of this society.
The FAI believed that we should not go ahead with the soccer match against Yugoslavia last Saturday, but it did not want to accept responsibility for a morally courageous decision on the issue. It wanted, rather, to pass on the responsibility for the decision to UEFA or to the Irish Government. Why did the FAI not decide that the team would not play? Because, for the FAI, its primary motive had nothing to do with the treatment of ethnic Albanian Kosovars by the Yugoslav regime. No. Its primary motive in all of this was trying to ensure that Ireland did not lose either points or a place in a football tournament. This self-interest crippled its ability to act courageously and decisively.
This is moral cowardice, and it is equalled by the Irish Government's inability to criticise NATO in its use of cluster bombs, etc., in the Balkans, even though it is reported that five Serbian children were killed whilst playing with an unexploded "bombie", as they are called.
Mary Robinson did, and is to be congratulated for her courage.
Neutrality does not mean "not taking sides". Neutrality means remaining unaligned and independent. A neutral country which is properly functioning as such is always ready to arrive at its own conclusions without joining a military alliance, and a neutral country is quite prepared to intervene in a conflict where it believes that this is necessary. However, such intervention would commit citizens of the neutral nation directly into the conflict zone, for a neutral country does not hold its own citizens in higher regard than the citizens of other nations. Rather, it is driven by the principle that all humans are created equal.
A neutral country in the hands of moral cowards is far worse than a bullying military superpower, for it will always in the end side with the mighty against the weak. - Yours, etc., John Lacken,
Tawnylea, Drumkeerin, Co. Leitrim