The news that Irish troops will be providing basic weapons training to Ukrainian soldiers is yet another attack on Irish neutrality.
This flies in the face of previous Government statements and assurances that Irish troops would only be involved in “non-lethal” training such as mine clearance.
It is now clear that the Government lied when they gave these guarantees. When they were challenged in the Dáil by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy over the participation of Irish Defence Forces personnel in the EU’s Military Assistance Mission to Ukraine (EUMAM), which is a full-spectrum military training mission, Micheál Martin’s response to being asked to provide a guarantee that Irish troops would not be involved in anything beyond demining training was to accuse People Before Profit of being “puppets of Putin”. In other words, he avoided the question.
The Government knows that there is overwhelming support for neutrality amongst the population. This is why they have rejected putting it to a referendum and opted for a completely managed and biased series of forums around the country rather than a citizen’s assembly. They know they do not have public support so they continue to chip away at our neutrality in any way they can, shamefully positioning Ireland in the camp of US, EU and NATO imperialism.