LAST UPDATE | 23 Feb 2022

MANY A TAOISEACH over the years has been able to head off a high-profile foreign trip, flying the flag for Ireland while pressing the flesh with world leaders.

Other than a few EU Council meetings, Micheál Martin has had something of a quieter schedule on the international front in comparison to his predecessors.

Most bi-lateral meetings between government leaders are mainly about pomp and ceremony, with talk afterwards about meetings being ‘fruitful and ‘meaningful’.

While the Taoiseach did get the pomp and ceremony in the form of military honours, yesterday, he also found himself at the centre of global issues in Berlin when he arrived yesterday to meet new Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Just a few hours earlier Russia had announced that its troops would enter Ukraine and the first European leader out to speak publicly on it just happened to be the man the Taoiseach was in Germany to visit.

Usually press conferences alongside leaders of smaller nations don’t get too much attention – but reporters who had gathered in the German Chancellery, just a stone’s throw from the Bundestag, got wind ahead of the event that it was being broadcast live to many news stations around the world, such was the anticipation as to how Europe would react to Putin’s actions.

Scholz had a major announcement to make at the press conference – confirming there that amid a package of sanctions the Nord Stream 2, a major gas pipeline project between Russian and Europe, was also to be halted.

Following Scholz’s strong statement that reaction by Europe and the US would be ‘robust’, the Taoiseach said Ireland fully supported the actions of Europe, all the while urging Russia to desist in its actions.

Neutrality

So what of Ireland’s neutrality in all this? It’s a question that has to be asked on a foreign trip with the Taoiseach that just so happens to coincide with one of the most significant crises Europe has faced in recent years.

The Journal asked the Taoiseach where Ireland sees itself in this unprecedented situation.

“Whilst militarily neutral, we’re not politically neutral,” replied Martin, repeating a line he’s used often in recent weeks. 

We are very clear on principles of self determination, on sovereignty of nations, which go to the very heart of the Irish existence. I did make the point that we’re an unbroken democracy for 100 years, we’ve never accepted the concept of a sphere of influence, or that one bigger neighbour should dominate every other neighbour around us.

In the wake of the press conference the Taoiseach enjoyed a working lunch with the Chancellor – on the menu, Smoked Artic Char with celeriac, Friesian ox roast beef with salted blueberries, and a chocolate tartlet.

While some may have thought Scholz had bigger fish to fry, the Taoiseach said they discussed a range of issues including climate change, inflation, Brexit and Northern Ireland.

Irish-German relations suffered a bit of a battering in the bank bailout years. By coincidence, on the day the Irish government announced that another €33bn has been lumped on top of our mounting national debt (pandemic borrowing this time), it can be no surprise that the Taoiseach would be keen to keep the new Chancellor on side and well-informed on such issues.

Expanding on his point about neutrality, the Taoiseach said Ireland, while neutral, is also a member of the European Union. The days of large countries wielding their power over smaller ones is not something that should be happening in the 21st century, he said.

“We have a lot of empathy with the Ukrainian people,” he added, saying he was “very taken aback” by the speech that was given by the Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday evening.

“Smaller states have a right to an existence,” he said. Ireland has no problem articulating its views in international forums, added Martin.

“And in this context, to the European Union: we’re absolutely united with our colleagues,” he added.

However, the Taoiseach also said diplomacy and dialogue is needed now, and that should Russia have concerns about security and other issues, there are mechanisms where those issues can be dealt with that don’t involve boots on the ground.

Does he think war is inevitable?

“I hope not,” said the Taoiseach, adding that dialogue will be used by Europe, the United States, the UK and others, “to prevent that from happening”. If war does break out it would be “catastrophic”.

Taoiseach says Ireland’s view is dialogue and diplomacy is the way to deal with issues. pic.twitter.com/XGXGD08RD9

— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) February 22, 2022

The talk of troops, sanctions and the breakout of war in Europe is not a regularity in these Q&As between a Taoiseach and a foreign leader on such trips abroad.

In fact, Taoisigh of the past have often been sore about how – just when they are trying to appear statesmanlike – in front of big players in global politics, Irish journalists have ‘lowered the tone’ by raising embarrassing ‘issues of the day’ that happen to be making headlines back home.

Even in the most disconcerting times, there can be glimmers of humour, such as when the Taoiseach was asked to answer a question about the Russian sanctions as Gaeilge.

Usually one to launch into a cúpla focal, Martin had a blank face. “I can’t think of the word for sanctions as Gaeilge,” he joked, scratching his head. Irish embassy staff and a few members of the media whipped out the Google Translate on the phones. 

“Smachtbhannaí” was shouted up to the Taoiseach’s podium, before an embassy staff member ran up to show him the spelling. 

Laughing, the Taoiseach was all set, answering the question in Irish using his new word-of-the-day.

Even through the moments of humour, it wasn’t lost on the Irish contingent that significant world events had overtaken the trip.

After the press conference at the Chancellery and more questions with the media at the Irish embassy, the Taoiseach travelled to the Holocaust memorial where he lay a wreath and visited the museum.

During a guided tour, he was told about the atrocities that had taken place in a time when democracy had crumbled.