Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 3 Mar 2022

Thank you very much, Ambassador, you are welcome to the House today. It is amazing, it took a war in Ukraine to bring us all so close together and I hope that that closeness continues. Firstly, Leader, I would like to express my thanks to the Irish Air Corps for going the extra mile and flying to Romania yesterday to bring home parents and their surrogate children. People have said things about the Air Corps in this place that they are not regulated, they are this, that and the other, but when they are required to step up to the plate, they always step up to the plate. The issue of Irish neutrality, Irish military non-alignment is now very much in public discourse. I think most people now accept that Ireland is not now and never has been a neutral country. We do not conform to the requirements of the Hague Convention of 1907 as a neutral country, therefore we cannot claim neutrality. What we can claim is that we are militarily non-aligned. I heard the words politically neutral used the other day, there is no such concept. We come out with such nonsense to try and explain ourselves away. Ireland has deployed since 1999 under Chapter 8 of the UN Convention or the UN Charter with regional organisations. You might ask what is the difference. If you deploy with the United Nations you wear a blue berry. If you deploy under a regional organisation which includes the EU and NATO, you wear the berry of your nation. So, in the case of Irish Defence Forces, it would be the blackberry that you wear. Now, the issue of Ireland and NATO has been in public discourse for quite some time. Well, let's talk about that for a few moments. The Irish Peace for Partnership has been working with NATO, as I said, since 1999. The Defence Forces spent considerable time and effort and expense getting NATO OCC Phase I certification for the Naval Service LE George Bernard Shaw, also for the Army Ranger Wing. Thus, we are not aligned with NATO, but we are damn close to them. Defence Force Senior Officers complete the NATO Planning Process Module and are NATO certified on successful completion as part of the Senior Command and Staff Course. All military NATO doctrine is referenced and used in Defence Force doctrine, so they are definitely aligned with NATO. Ireland does not use the training doctrine or certification from Russia or China, therefore we are not aligned with them. The White Paper on Defence in 2015 categorically states we should increase our alignment with regional actors such as NATO and the EU entities. Ireland is very much aligned militarily with NATO. The real fact is we are incapable of delivering any commitment to NATO if asked because of the current state of our Defence Forces. The Minister, when he talks about neutrality and military non-alignment and political neutrality, should probably sit down and study precisely what we are before he makes statements. Can we please be honest about this and stop being afraid? NATO is not a bad word. Being aligned to NATO is not a bad thing. People need to stop muddying the waters on neutrality. Alignment, proactive military alignment, there is nothing wrong with it when it is required. Ireland is aligned with NATO but exercises its right to refrain militarily from NATO activities, save those that are under Chapter 8 of the UN Charter. The bottom line on it is that this country needs to have a discussion on neutrality. But until that discussion happens, we are sitting on armaments today that we can send to Ukraine. I have seen people standing with their shoulders to tanks to try and stop them rolling into their towns. I have photographs given to me this morning by the Ambassador from Ukraine and they are horrific. We cannot sit idly by. I do not want bloodshed but I do want people to be able to defend themselves and send the weapons.