In recent days there has been much debate in Ireland by government officials, the media, the public, and the defence forces about the type of aid which is suitable for Ireland to send to assist in the defensive effort by Ukraine against their Russian aggressors. While Ireland has already begun sending non-lethal aid such as medical supply’s, body armour, fuel, and other nonviolent relief, many believe that weapons, such as anti-tank missiles which the Irish defence force has in it’s arsenal, should be added to that list.
The Irish times and several other Irish news sources have published several articles about this topic in which they detailed the type of weaponry which Ireland has in it’s arsenal which could be useful for the Ukrainian troopers in their war efforts. These primarily include the 1,900 anti-tank weapons lying idle in the Curragh and other parts of the country which may never be used. This inventory includes 1,800 units of Swiss-made AT-4 anti-tank weapons as well as 100 units of the more advanced, and more expensive, Javelin missiles. The former would be much more useful in the current state of the war in Ukraine due to them being much cheaper, single use and requiring little to no prior training.
All this is to be said as Ireland announced that it will not be supplying lethal military aid to Ukraine as part of its role in the very significant €500 million package by the EU to aid in the defence against the Kremlin and their army. This has raised much contention among the defence forces, as well as the public, who believe that we as a nation should be doing everything in our power to help the Ukrainian people, including supplying them with weapons. However, due to Ireland's claim of neutrality this is somewhat of a tricky situation.
Ireland is and, since the 1930’s, has been a neutral nation with the only military activity it participates in being peacekeeping missions which take place primarily in Africa and the middle east. While Irish neutrality does differ somewhat from absolute neutrality, due to us in the past allowing American and other nations to refuel military aircrafts in Shannon airport, it still aligns with the basic principles of neutrality. However, by supplying another country with military aid that would place this neutrality in jeopardy. While, as pointed out by an assistant professor of law in a piece by the Irish Times, while it is not strictly unconstitutional for Ireland to offer military aid in the form of weapons and even troops on a bilateral basis, it would break the laws of neutrality. By breaking the laws of neutrality Ireland would mean Ireland may have to commit a lot more investment into its military as well as possibly being forced to join certain military alliances such as NATO. While many argue that this may not be a bad thing due to the fact that Ireland is a much wealthier and more militarily apt country than it once was, others would argue that neutrality offers Ireland many benefits.
In saying this however, many countries such as Finland and Switzerland have used this conflict as an opportunity to break their respective neutrality’s of 66 and 207 years in order to enforce sanctions on Russia and offer military aid to the Ukrainians. Switzerland specifically has begun to break away from its reputation as a safe haven for Russian capital in it’s sanctions on powerful Russians in hopes that they will put pressure on Putin. Many are using such countries as examples of a possible road which Ireland could go down in this time of crisis, and are saying that it is morally unjustifiable to follow suit with countries such as Malta and Austria who are offering similar aid to Ireland.
Apart from the neutrality aspect of the argument, the other facet of this which I haven’t seen discussed as much is whether we actually should be funnelling weapons into Ukraine. In the past placing military aid into an unstable region, while seen as necessary in the short term, in the long term it has come back to bite the donors. The best example of this is when the US dropped arms and munitions into Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan which ended up making the region more volatile and the conflicts more deadly. Many even attribute this foreign aid as the catalyst for the creation of the modern day Taliban. As a result of this there are many criticisms to be made about an abundance of weapons which are handed out to anybody and everybody who will take them, even if it seems like a good idea at the time.
In short Ireland’s neutrality is something which has always served them well in the past and still leaves them some wiggle room in terms of helping their “allies” whether that be De Valera sending weather forecasts to Churchill, allowing Americans to refuel their aircrafts, or supplying non-lethal aid to the Ukrainians. Ireland is a peaceful nation and can still assist from a humanitarian standpoint without supplying weapons and while many would like to aid in the war effort, in solidarity with the Ukrainians, there are bigger powers at play here which we must first consider.
2 March, 2022