Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent poll asking how people would vote in a referendum on Irish Neutrality. In favour of Neutrality = 62%, Against = 24% unsure = 13%

15 comments

  3. I’d probably vote in favour of neutrality too, but it’s definitely a conflict in my head. In the event of a WW3, are we on the side of US, UK and EU or Russia and China? It’s not even a question.

    So should we do what is right or do what’s in our own best interests? Idk I can’t help but feel like cowards pretending we’re not on a side. I know you might say we wouldn’t make a difference anyway, but who knows when a few thousand soldiers here or there would make a difference and cause a domino effect. Idk I’m no expert and definitely open to being persuaded one way or another, I’d love to see some debates on this topic.

  5. Ireland can be in favour of neutrality all it wants but Ireland is not neutral. We’re a western European country with economic ties to most NATO countries, our Defence Forces work with these countries on a regular basis.

    Russia’s actions has shown that the notion of true neutrality is nullified in the 21st century. Our govt can stick their fingers in their ears all they want, but that fact of the matter is that Russia flew armed jets into Sweden (with tactical nukes on board apparently). What happens if they try the same with us? Sweden is (on paper) just as neutral as us, Ireland can’t afford to be complacent any more.

  8. It really should be a question of fully committing to the European Defence initiatives but that would require a constitutional amendment of Article 27.

    It’s clear we are not politically neutral we are EU members after all merely not in a military alliance. At this stage, I doubt the Russian ambassador sees the distinction?

    It’s not about size, it’s about “Collective Defence”. Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ireland, and Sweden are all small nations but several hundred troops from each and you have a well-equipped battalion or naval grouping

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Battlegroup

    https://ecfr.eu/publication/ambiguous-alliance-neutrality-opt-outs-and-european-defence/?amp

    Is the EU worth defending? Should we exit the EU and have Swiss style neutrality?

    If we don’t care about Estonia’s security why should they care about the Northern ireland protocol?

  9. To really qualify as being neutral, Ireland would need a larger military. The fact is, at present we’re not so much “neutral” as “ignored.”

  10. I hate to tell you but Ireland is less neutral than Ukraine was. All that separates us from that outcome is distance. Can we really be sure any country would risk nuclear annihilation for us if we were invaded?

    I’m glad the EU has a loose clause to encourage aid in whatever capacity, but I kind of have my doubts the Nato countries would want to get in on that action without the US’s backing. Much less those not in Nato.

  11. Our claims to neutrality are military only, in that we don’t and can’t claim to be politically neutral as an EU member state. Moreover, even our claims to military neutrality are compromised by our participation in EU Battle Groups (which I support btw) and the fact that we would be utterly dependent on other countries to protect us in the event of an invasion. The RAF already intercepts Russian fighters on our behalf. We’re not a proper neutral state. We just say we are. Kind of like how we used to pretend Ireland was abortion-free back when thousands of Irish women travelled back and forth to Britain each year in order to obtain abortions.

  12. Neutrality is irrelevant if we do not spend money on defense to enforce it.

    We do not spend money to enforce it.

    History is littered with countries who were neutral who still got invaded and flattened.

    So the debate needs to move on from the simplistic nonsense of should we be neutral or not because declaring ourselves neutral is naive if not followed up with funding the defence of that Neutrality.

    General point: being neutral in the face of wrong supports wrong doing. It is not being neutral.

  13. Honestly neutrality is only worth how other countries see it. We aren’t a neutral country if potential enemies don’t see us that way. Claiming to be neutral is not a ‘you can’t touch me na na na naaa na’. Ukraine was neutral and look at them. The lowland countries were neutral in both world wars but were merely speed bumps for the German war machine.

  14. But how big was the survey? Big enough of a sample size to draw meaningful conclusions? Was it representative of Ireland as a whole in terms of demographics?

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