DAVID ROLFE,
Sir, - The real problem facing advocates of Irish neutrality is not getting our friends in Europe to recognise it - it's persuading our enemies outside Europe to do so! The form of neutrality that the Republic has practised since the 1930s was conceived in an age where wars were declared and fought between rival imperial families and their vassal states. We now live in a world where individual acts, such as going for a drink in the pub or sending our daughters to school, make us all "legitimate targets", simply because by conforming to the norms of Western civilisation we offend the sensibilities of religious fanatics and genocidal zealots.
When the second World War broke out, neutrality proved worthless for any defenceless European nation that came within reach of the Nazis and that wasn't already in the grip of fascism.
The only reason Irish neutrality remained intact was that from the viewpoint of the Nazis the country was inconveniently located behind Britain. Had fate placed Ireland in the middle of the English Channel, much of the second World War would have been fought on Irish soil and, like most other small european countries, Ireland would now be a member of NATO.
Because of this accident of geography and history, generations of Irish people have grown up under the vague illusion that neutrality is something we can impose on potential aggressors to prevent them from attacking us. There is also a collective unwillingness to confront its moral downside: at what point does refusing to get involved with other people's problems turn into tacit approval of acts of evil?
The time has clearly come for Irish foreign policy to reflect a relationship with Europe rather than a troubled past with Britain. Rather than explicitly abandoning neutrality, the Government could steer a middle course. It could announce that it has no problem with Irish citizens serving in the armies of EU countries provided they stay off the island of Ireland while doing so. -
DAVID ROLFE,
Yours, etc.,
Walnut Creek,
California,
USA.