Sir, – Paul Gillespie advances the usual argument of those who say we shouldn't get too close to Nato ("For Ireland to rapidly align with Nato would be a big mistake", Opinion & Analysis, May 7th). He writes: "Ireland's non-alignment gives it a positive image with other world regions coming out of colonial pasts, or subject to US imperial power projection".
Norway is one of the most respected countries in the areas of peacemaking and peace negotiations. Norway has been involved in places like Colombia, Israel/Palestine, Venezuela and Sudan, to name just a few. In the recent votes for the places on the UN Security Council, Norway got more votes than Ireland and came out top in the western section. All this despite the fact Norway is in Nato and Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, is Norwegian. – Yours, etc,
PAUL WILLIAMS,
Kilkee,
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Co Clare.
Sir, – Why bestir ourselves to take national defence seriously when our nearest, and much derided, neighbour is prepared to do it for us, gratis?
Some years ago, Ireland put its place in the EU in jeopardy over the question of a European army. Considering the recent jangle of alarm bells in Ukraine, future membership of the EU might well necessitate signing up to either an EU defence pact, or Nato membership. Your editorial (April 30th) on defence policy, instead of challenging the self-serving immaturity that has been little more than an inability to come to terms with the grown-up realities of the world, pandered to the parochial anti-Britishness that has been dressed up, for too long, as so-called neutrality. Ireland should jump before it is pushed.
For the majority of the Irish people to be still clinging to such delusory expediency is a sad reflection on the myopic state of public discourse in the country.
Your contributors who have pointed out these uncomfortable verities are a breath of fresh air. – Yours, etc,
PADDY McEVOY,
March,
Cambridgeshire,
UK.
Sir, – It has been often asserted in recent correspondence that Ireland somehow free-rides on British and European “defence” expenditure to safeguard its place in a threatening world, and that somehow it is morally required to pay its way if it is to play an honourable role in the world.
This ignores the fact that the rest of Nato has been free-riding on US “defence” spending for decades, something Donald Trump pointed out and sought to rectify. But, by and large, the US. was happy to let things be: he who pays the piper calls the tune; thus the US could override the fears of Nato allies and others about expanding into post-Soviet eastern Europe.
International relations are an organised system of hypocrisy. Mounting a campaign to end Irish neutrality is just another manifestation of this; it has nothing whatsoever to do with some supposed threat from Russia.
Rather it has everything to do with a small sectional interest engaging in moral blackmail and scare tactics to enhance its own position, somewhat similar to the campaign that would have led to the privatisation of the water supply. We are in about as much danger from Russia as we were from running out of water: unlike Finland,we do not have a huge land border with Russia, and are of no historical or strategic importance to Russia. – Yours, etc,
EOIN DILLON,
Mount Brown,
Dublin 8.