What I mean is -does Ireland have an independent foreign policy ?
It seems to me that the State has lost its bearings and it is bending to the wishes of foreign powers which have nothing in common with the principles set out in the Constitution enacted by the plain people of Ireland in 1937.
I quote Article 29.
1. Ireland affirms its devotion to the ideal of peace and friendly co-operation among nations founded on international justice and morality.
2 Ireland affirms its adherence to the principle of pacific settlement of international disputes by international arbitration or judicial determination.
3. Ireland accepts the generally recognised principles of international law as its rule of conduct in its relations with other States.
The Constitution was drafted by Eamon de Valera in consultation with others. Dev had vast experience in foreign affairs,,having been President of the Council of the League of Nations and President of its Assembly during the preceding 5 years, and having both head of the Free State Government and, simultaneously Minister for External Affairs. He had facilitated the membership of the Soviet Union, advocated sanctions against Japan for its aggression in China, and against Italy for its rape of Abyssinia. He had heard Haile Selassie plead at the League for its help, and he would have sent Irish Defence Force personnel to defend that African country as part of a League commitment to honour its Charter. The League dishonoured its Charter.
To be fair to the British however, it must be said they made made Mussolini pay for the Rape of Abyssinia .
They owned the Suez Canal and levied fees on the Fascists who sailed through that waterway with their arms and materiel.
Following Ireland’s joining the United Nations the country played a distinguished part, particularly when Frank Aiken was Minister for External Affairs. Ireland promoted the de-colonisation of subject peoples and Irish soldiers gave their lives trying to establish peace where Imperialists
had created chaos. Ireland promoted the discussion of Chinese representation at the United Nations. The United States, through Cardinal Spelman of New York, thought it could browbeat the Irish, whose Catholic leaders had defied their own Bishops a generation earlier. But Ireland held firm to its policy,
For 10 years. from 1958 to 1968 during the Cold War, Frank Aiken campaigned for the non- proliferation of nuclear weapons, first virtually alone but his persistence paid off. When Aiken’s Resolution was finally adopted as a Treaty, Aiken was the first national representative to sign its endorsement, at a ceremony in Moscow,
The world could breathe a sigh of relief ……for a few years.
It is reckoned that today the world is closer to nuclear catastrophe than it was during the Cold War. Not only has there been a proliferation of nuclear weapons, but the original nuclear powers are more gung-ho than they ever were.
Ireland has abandoned the principles and practices of a sane, neutral state. Irish media and academic hirelings echo the propaganda of western imperialists. Millions of American troops on aggressive missions have been facilitated at Shannon, and hundreds of flights have carried kidnapped persons to incarceration and torture in Guantanamo. The current Irish Army Chief of Staff has taken it upon himself to describe Russia as Ireland’s enemy, and to assert, with no evidence, that Russian military aircraft have been invading Irish air-space.
My reading of our Constitution reserves matters of foreign policy, peace and war, to the Oireachtas and Generals, like Privates, are obliged to serve the Nation and the State. Not to dictate to them.
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