Ireland has made its position clear that it is not neutral in the case of the Ukrainian war, Senator Gerard Craughwell has told the Seanad. Speaking on Thursday, the Independent Senator said Ireland’s supply of non-lethal, non-military aid to Ukraine was in conflict with the Hague Convention, stating that in order to remain neutral, “We cannot supply any sort of support.”
The Senator for the Labour Panel was speaking during a Seanad debate to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s war with Ukraine. Present at the debate were the ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland, along with Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Peter Burke.
Senator Craughwell told the House that while the Ukraine war has been ongoing for two years, and we “constantly see some images,” the war in Ukraine “has slipped down in media importance.”
“We are seeing more from Gaza now than from Ukraine and one wonders whether we swing to the latest, greatest war, wherever it is. We have to be realistic about this,” the senator remarked.
Senator Craughwell said that while he “constantly” hears colleagues say that because of Ireland’s neutral position, we are in a “strong position to negotiate or comment,” this is not the reality.
“The Minister, Deputy Coveney, was first to say that in the case of the Ukrainian war, Ireland is not neutral,” he said.
“That has been repeated by several Ministers. Who in God’s name gave them permission to come out with such a statement? If Ireland’s neutrality is to be changed it has to be brought to the Houses of Parliament and discussed. People cannot just unilaterally decide we are no longer a neutral state,” the Senator added.
He went on to point to the Hague Convention, stating:
“When it comes to neutrality, the 1907 Hague Convention IV states that we cannot, under any circumstances, support either belligerent in the case of a war. Our Government has decided unilaterally to provide non-lethal, non-military aid to Ukraine, but this goes against the Hague Convention. We cannot supply any sort of support.
“Why am I bringing this up today?” he continued.
“I am sure the ambassador is wondering if I am backing away from my support for Ukraine but on the contrary. We have weapons in this country that are coming to the end of their lives. Instead of having to spend millions trying to dump them or render them useless, why not give them to Ukraine?”
“This would give the Ukrainians the power they need to fight a ruthless enemy. What is the big deal about this? At the end of the day, we have said we are not neutral in the case of Ukraine. Does anyone think the likes of Vladimir Putin gives a continental damn whether it is a few bandages we provide or weapons?
“At the end of the day, we have made our position clear that we are not neutral. It is a pity they did not bring it to the Houses of Parliament before they decided this but the decision has been made, so it is time that we rowed in behind it. I hate to say this in front of the Ukrainian Ambassador but right now promises are being made by the West about weapons, tanks, money and all sorts of things coming the way of Ukrainians but very few of them have been delivered.”
The Senator described the conflict as “a war that should never have started in the first place,” going on to say that “constant promises are being made to Ukraine.
“Constant promises are being made to Ukraine. Then we hear the talk of sanctions being put in place and penalties for countries breaking the sanctions. We need to look at the Russia-friendly states and see how their international trade has increased quite substantially in recent years, particularly over the period of the war. Why has it increased?
“It has increased because we cannot export to Russia but we can do so to countries that are friendly to Russia and these then export to Russia. If sanctions are in place then every item exported needs to be traced as to where it is being exported to and where it is being moved on to from there.”
“We talk in Ireland about militarily non-aligned and neutral, as if they were one and the same thing. They are actually polar opposites. A country is either non-aligned or neutral,” he continued.
Senator Craughwell went on to point to Ireland’s defence spending. In terms of GDP, Ireland has the lowest defence spending of all 27 EU member states.
“Those who stand up in this House and talk about Ireland’s neutrality while we spend 0.2% of our GDP on defence should hang their heads in shame, for God’s sake. We should be spending somewhere close to 2%. We should have a proper air force,” he continued.
“We should have a naval service that is capable of patrolling our seas. That is what being neutral is about. A country can be militarily non-aligned and be like Iceland, have no army at all and depend on somebody else for defence. We tend to do that.”
The Senator also referred to a UK report, published earlier this month, claiming that Ireland’s lack of security is posing a “backdoor threat” to Britain.
The report, backed by former British Defence Secretaries Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon KCB and Rt Hon Lord Robertson of Port Ellen KT, was published in the UK Defence Journal this week. Last week, responding to the Policy Exchange report, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar denied Ireland was reliant on UK military aid, telling a conference in Munich:
“In relation to protecting our seas, we have our own navy, it’s not as strong as it needs to be, and we’ve entered into agreements with Pesco and Nato’s Partnership for Peace which particularly relate to the cables that are around the island which are important to us, and also important to our neighbours.
“I’m not aware of any particular UK intervention that’s helped us in that regard,” the Taoiseach said.
Picking up on the story, Senator Craughwell said: “An article yesterday in one of the papers said that if there was a competition for hypocrisy in Europe, the book should close now because Leo Varadkar has won it. He has done so by saying that we do not have a problem in Ireland, we have no one looking after our back door and we are able to look after ourselves. We are not. That is a fact we need to wake up to.
“If we are not going to use the weapons ourselves, we should give them to Ukraine. Several countries have offered to take our weapons and get rid of them for us. I know where they would go. They would go straight to Ukraine, and what about it? Bandages are one thing but real support is about putting whatever resources we have behind the people of Ukraine,” the Senator said.
“We are hamstrung by this ridiculous, non-aligned definition. We are not part of NATO. We never want to be part of it. It would not have us,” he added.
Senator Craughwell also mentioned Ukrainian refugees in Ireland, claiming that “no one from Ukraine is here because they want to be.”
“They are here because they have to be,” he said.