15th November 2022
STATEMENT ON NEUTRALITY
In a further blow to Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality, Simon Coveney, Minister for
Foreign Affairs, today signalled that the Irish state is to become further integrated into the
NATO/EU proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Coveney confirmed that the Irish military would
take part in an EU training programme for Ukrainian armed forces, which includes neo-Nazi units.
We oppose this active collaboration of the Irish political establishment in the NATO/EU strategy
to escalate and prolong the war in Ukraine.
NATO is presently funding, arming, and training its proxy and facilitating mercenaries and fascist
paramilitaries. Violence in Ukraine has escalated since the US-orchestrated coup of 2014,
including the killing of 14,000 people in the Donbass by Ukrainian forces and the invasion of
Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, which has resulted in the death and displacement of
countless civilians. The proximate cause of this situation has been the expansion of NATO and its
project to constrict its imperial competitor, Russia, by establishing large bases of troops and mass
destructive weapons along its western and southern borders.
The Irish political establishment won a seat on the UN Security Council by trading on Ireland’s
history as a victim of British colonial rule and its military neutrality. Far from being neutral, the
Irish political establishment has lined up 4 square behind the NATO/EU war effort and finds itself
out of step with the majority of UN members which do not back NATO sanctions.
It is time that Irish peace forces stopped allowing themselves to be bullied, intimidated, and
blackmailed by the pro-war, pro-NATO lobby so strongly entrenched in the Irish establishment
and in the Irish media. These forces have used the plight of people fleeing war in Ukraine as a
political tool to garner support for their pro-NATO stance. They care very little for the other
victims across the world fleeing other conflicts all of which are or were initiated or backed by
western imperialism.
It is time that the Irish government used its voice in the UN and in the EU to call for a ceasefire
and peace negotiations.
ENDS
