That has been made unambiguously clear by successive taoisigh, successive External/Foreign Affairs ministers and others. Sean MacBride as Minister for External Affairs made it clear in the Dáil and Seanad in February 1949 that Ireland is of The West, part of The West, and on the side of The West.
Ireland is simply militarily neutral - meaning it is not in NATO. Its decision not to join NATO was not based on some principle but on one simple fact - the existence of partition. On 23 February 1949, Minister for External Affairs Sean MacBride told the Dáil that:
He told the Seanad:
We approve of the Atlantic Pact and I think that, if it were not for the fact that a portion of our country is wrongfully occupied by Britain, we would have been in the Atlantic Pact. Theoretically, its aims, its purpose are in accord with our own wishes and our own desire.
Sean Lemass in 1962 said:
NATO is necessary for the preservation of peace and the protection of the countries of western Europe, including this country. Although we are not members of NATO, we are fully in agreement with its aims.
Ireland has demonstrated unambiguously that it is on the side of the democratic West. On Sean Lemass's explicit orders, Kennedy's embargo on Cuba was enforced by Ireland in planes landing in Shannon en route to Cuba. Goods in Soviet and Eastern Bloc planes breaching the embargo were confiscated - to the fury of Khrushchev.
Ireland like other Western states never recognised the illegal Soviet annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and like other states recognised the governments-in-exile of those states as the legitimate government. The modern Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian governments stress that they are the descendants of the Governments-in-Exile and not the Soviet puppet regimes Moscow installed.
Ireland is unambiguously on the side of Ukraine, not Moscow, as Russia breached the UN Charter in its invasion as an UN member we are obliged to uphold the charter. In theory under UN rules Russia could have been expelled for its invasion, just as the USSR was expelled by the League of Nations for its invasion of Finland in 1939. In practice, the existence of vetoes made the expulsion power, like a lot of UN powers, inoperable as veto powers can simply veto actions against them or their friends.
Russia like the USSR has always acknowledged that Ireland is not politically neutral. It regards Ireland as a de facto member of NATO. It was one of the reasons who Stalin repeatedly vetoed Ireland's efforts to join the UN. (Countries are admitted by the General Council on the recommendation of the Security Council. Stalin vetoed Ireland annually, preventing any SC recommendation to admit Ireland.) His death removed the logjam.
He also despised Irish neutrality in World War II as "cowardice" - a longstanding Soviet and Russian attitude towards the concept of neutrality in general. The former Allies like Britain and the US lobbied Stalin on Ireland's behalf, pointing out that though officially neutral Ireland had been working closely with Allies, breaking codes, spying on Axis diplomats and passing on information. Stalin simply threw his hands in the air, and spat out "cowards!"
He was particularly animated on the issue of de Valera's dumb decision to offer condolences to the German minister in Ireland on the death of Hitler - perhaps the biggest blunder in Irish foreign policy.
The truth is simple. Ireland is not and never has been politically neutral. It has been consistently been on the side of the west. It is simply militarily neutral, meaning it is not in NATO.
Sean MacBride was clear in the Seanad in 1949 in a speech:
based directly on the contents of the Atlantic Pact (setting up NATO), based on military considerations, based on public policy, the Atlantic Pact is heralded as the new instrument of international co-operation in the North Atlantic. It was intended to preserve if you like, the democratic way of life among the nations of the North Atlantic.
With that, we are in complete agreement. We approve of the Atlantic Pact and I think that, if it were not for the fact that a portion of our country is wrongfully occupied by Britain, we would have been in the Atlantic Pact. Theoretically, its aims, its purpose are in accord with our own wishes and our own desire.
⏩ Jim Duffy is a writer-historian.
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