Partnership for Peace

Sir, - I wish to thank and congratulate The Irish Times for the range, depth and extent of coverage it has given to the issue…

Sir, - I wish to thank and congratulate The Irish Times for the range, depth and extent of coverage it has given to the issue of Ireland joining NATO's Partnership for Peace since the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs called for a "public debate" on the matter six months ago.

Of the many points that have emerged in the general discourse, in which RTE has also played a notable part, the following seem basic to me:

1. A public debate of this nature can have full meaning only if the decision has not been taken in advance. In a true debate the vote is called after the arguments, in the expectation that the best supported argument can win. Democrats have nothing to fear from a referendum of the people, which is the only properly democratic outcome of the public debate that is now developing on this question of "national policy, according to the requirements of the common good", in the spirit of Article 6.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann. The alternative will be to debase the very idea of community empowerment, and reduce future civic discourse to promotion and marketing.

2. Ireland's Defence Forces are in urgent need of imaginative investment in morale, equipment and training, and in the development of their considerable peacekeeping experience: a small but effective international force with special skills that will require the acquisition of many complex, modern, "bridge-building" tools which our partners might not be in the business of deploying.

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3. There is considerable attachment among Irish people to the "peace and justice" idea which is believed to underlie our approach to matters overseas, and which we associate with our 40-year-old espousal of an independent, global, foreign security policy. No serious anti-PfP voice is arguing for outdated notions of neutrality any more, rather for constructive independence as unique, non-aggressive, front-line, sovereign participants in any benign, non-militarist, international team.

4. The decision by members of the present Government not to honour the Foreign Affairs section of Fianna Fail's 1997 Election Manifesto is based on advice offered to them by full-time officials upon whom they rely to run their Departments. This "official" advice had already been adopted by the previous Government. There has been no bottom-up change in FF policy, rather a top-down selling of an unmandated mandarin consensus, which cannot be evaluated in the results of these elections without a clatter of conflicting psephologists and spin-doctors.

With the above in mind, as a Fianna Fail supporter since 1980, I am voting for those Fianna Fail candidates who have taken a clear stance in support of Fianna Fail policy in this matter. I am also pleased, with your permission, to announce in your columns the formation of the Aiken Group as a forum to pursue this matter within Fianna Fail after these elections. In so doing, I would like to acknowledge the kind co-operation of the late Frank Aiken's family.

Any member or supporter of Fianna Fail who wishes to learn more about the Aiken Group should contact st.john@isite.ie, or visit the discussion thread on vocal@local.ie, or write to the address below. - Yours, etc., John Stephenson,

6 Bessborough Hall, Bessborough Parade, Dublin 6.