What is she actually trying to say?
Ireland isn’t a neutral country, it’s a EU member state and the EU has a common defense agreement.
The article also mentions Ireland is stepping up defense spending and makes maritime defense a priority during its EU presidency.
So why does Kallas (who is not representing NATO but the EU) call Ireland out for not being a NATO member?
It is yeah. I’m not necessarily a fan of it myself but that’s where we are. We have a defence force, not an army. We have never been involved in a war (directly) though we do take sides, Ukraine being an example where we delivered non lethal aid for the first time in our history.
it’s a EU member state and the EU has a common defense agreement.
The wording in that clause is partly to accommodate our neutrality.
So why does Kallas (who is not representing NATO but the EU) call Ireland out for not being a NATO member?
I didn’t see that anywhere. Our defence spending has been tiny compared to other nations and with hybrid attacks on the rise across Europe we can’t afford to rely on our larger neighbours any more, especially with many transatlantic internet cables coming aground in Ireland.
The Irish Defence Forces consists of three branches:
The Air Corps
The Naval Service
The ARMY
though we do take sides
That means we’re not neutral.
The Irish governments stance on neutrality is a farce. They say things like “we’re militarily neutral, not politically neutral” which is total nonsense. They have basically made up their own definition of neutrality.
Neutral is neutral. Theres no picking to be militarily neutral over politically neutral. There’s already a name for that. Its called being a “non-belligerent” country.
Theres a reason why the government have opposed defining neutrality in our constitution over and over again because it will ruin their bullshit narrative.
On top of that, most Irish people also seem to have no idea what neutrality requires and if they ever figured out what it would really mean then they wouldnt support it because it would involve things like not taking a stance on things like Gaza.
What is she actually trying to say?
Ireland isn’t a neutral country, it’s a EU member state and the EU has a common defense agreement.
The article also mentions Ireland is stepping up defense spending and makes maritime defense a priority during its EU presidency.
So why does Kallas (who is not representing NATO but the EU) call Ireland out for not being a NATO member?
It is yeah. I’m not necessarily a fan of it myself but that’s where we are. We have a defence force, not an army. We have never been involved in a war (directly) though we do take sides, Ukraine being an example where we delivered non lethal aid for the first time in our history.
The wording in that clause is partly to accommodate our neutrality.
I didn’t see that anywhere. Our defence spending has been tiny compared to other nations and with hybrid attacks on the rise across Europe we can’t afford to rely on our larger neighbours any more, especially with many transatlantic internet cables coming aground in Ireland.
The Irish Defence Forces consists of three branches:
That means we’re not neutral.
The Irish governments stance on neutrality is a farce. They say things like “we’re militarily neutral, not politically neutral” which is total nonsense. They have basically made up their own definition of neutrality.
Neutral is neutral. Theres no picking to be militarily neutral over politically neutral. There’s already a name for that. Its called being a “non-belligerent” country.
Theres a reason why the government have opposed defining neutrality in our constitution over and over again because it will ruin their bullshit narrative.
On top of that, most Irish people also seem to have no idea what neutrality requires and if they ever figured out what it would really mean then they wouldnt support it because it would involve things like not taking a stance on things like Gaza.
Since when Ireland is part of common defence agreement?
Since 2009
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_European_Union
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Consolidated_version_of_the_Treaty_on_European_Union/Title_V:_General_Provisions_on_the_Union's_External_Action_Service_and_Specific_Provisions_on_the_Common_Foreign_and_Security_Policy#Article_42
Ireland opt out of it due to their neutrality
https://ireland.representation.ec.europa.eu/ireland-and-eu-defence-security_en