Pringle: Ireland must protect its neutrality against progress toward a European army
- Updated: 25th May 2022
Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said Ireland must protect its neutrality against progress toward a European army.
Deputy Pringle said: “There are continuous moves towards that goal by the elites in Europe.”
He pointed to comments reported on Tuesday by the French Ambassador to Ireland, Vincent Guérend, who said that while France respects Irish neutrality, this does not mean the policy “cannot evolve” or cannot or should not be adapted to a new environment. The ambassador said Russia does not respect Irish neutrality.
Deputy Pringle also noted that Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, told the European Parliament that, “We need a pragmatic federalism that encompasses all areas affected by ongoing transformations – from the economy to energy to security. If this requires the start of a path that leads to the revision of the treaties, we should embrace it.”
Deputy Pringle said: “We see the deepening of the Eurozone now at the current time and the real reason for it as far as Europe is concerned is in the militarisation of the European community.
“In Ireland we see this with the statements on our neutrality and how selfish it is, as they say,” he said.
Deputy Pringle was in Lisbon on Tuesday, where he addressed the Portuguese Communist Party conference on 20 years of the euro.
The deputy said: “At one time we had a policy around neutrality that was something to be proud of. We were the promoters of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty at the UN and the first signatories in the 1960s, for example.
“I believe that many small nations viewed us as an ally because of our history of colonial struggle and the stance we took, and I believe that that is being undermined at the minute because of our subservience to the Euro project.
“We see the stance that the Irish government takes at home in relation to Palestine and then when we go to the EU it gets very quiet. The EU continues to work with Israel and panders to the ongoing destruction of Palestinian villages and lives.
“The encouraging thing is that in surveys at least 65 per cent of people want to maintain neutrality as core government policy. That will slow down their willingness a bit but, in the meantime, they will continue to undermine neutrality bit by bit,” Deputy Pringle said.
The deputy said Government continually “push the boat out on what could be breaching neutrality”.
Deputy Pringle said: “They will work with NATO on issues like cybersecurity because that does not undermine neutrality as they see it. They will sell it in that way and because it does not involve boots on the ground it is not seen as emotive to people, and they can do it.
“We in Ireland must protect against this progress to a European army and ensure that Irish do not end up going to die for European ideals that create a fortress Europe and allow thousands of people, that Europe has added to their misery, to drown in the Mediterranean,” he said.
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