LAST WEEK, IRELAND voted in favour of joining two new projects run by PESCO, the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation organisation, causing controversy among some that claimed the projects involve committing Irish troops to fight abroad.

Every EU member state, aside from Malta, is a member of PESCO, which aims to provide a structure for EU member states to “jointly plan, develop and invest in shared capability projects, and enhance the operational readiness and contribution of their armed forces”, though this largely focuses on joint procurement of equipment.

Ireland has been participating in PESCO projects since getting Dáil approval in December 2017, and each one is entirely voluntary.

“Another knife in the back of Irish neutrality as Dail votes to join EU military operations as part of the PESCO deal,” one post shared hundreds of times on Facebook read.

“It won’t be Michael Martin or Simon Harris who sends their kids off to fight for German and French bankers. It’ll be workers who suffer.”

The same account later posted that the vote was “FF FG Green handing us over to EU NATO army!”

Some similar objections were also aired in the Dáil during a debate on these projects, though in more sophisticated terms.

“The Government needs to answer a simple question in a convincing fashion,” Labour TD Brendan Howlin said last Wednesday. “Is our growing involvement with PESCO activities anchored in a clear vision of Ireland’s military neutrality or is it simply a pathway to participation in collective European defence?”

People Before Profit–Solidarity TD Paul Murphy put his concerns in starker terms: “What we see here is an exercise in boiling the frog of neutrality, that is, just turning up the temperature, bit by bit, and hoping the people will not notice; removing any real content from the word ‘neutrality’ while keeping simply the word; getting rid of the triple lock, which, as the Tánaiste said himself, is at the core of our neutrality; and signing up for more and more of these European militarisation projects of PESCO and the European Defence Agency.”

Ireland’s neutrality itself is a subject of some controversy, with the current government equating it with not being part of a military alliance, such as NATO, though it is often also associated with the “triple-lock”, in which Ireland cannot deploy troops unless there is a United Nations mandate, clearance from the Government, and a vote in the Dáil.

However, these PESCO projects that have caused such controversy have little to do with dismantling the triple lock. 

Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin asked the Dáil to approve two projects, the Network of Logistic Hubs in Europe and Support to Operations (also known as NetLogHubs), and Critical Seabed Infrastructure Protection (called CSIP).

NetLogHubs seeks to allow participant countries to quickly move and store equipment throughout Europe.

“Participating in this project will also give Ireland options when deploying and withdrawing from missions overseas,” Martin told the Dáil. “If troops need to be withdrawn from a location quickly and there is an European Union logistics hub close to the mission, it could provide valuable support to the Defence Forces. There are 27 European Union hubs available to the members of this project.

“Participation will also enhance the Defence Forces’ capability and knowledge in major logistical deployment, sustainment and withdrawal from operations. The only costs associated with this project are in respect of Defence Forces personnel attendance at meetings and workshops,” Martin said.

CSIP, on the other hand, seeks to protect “critical maritime infrastructure”, largely referring to undersea communications cables, such as internet connections between Europe and America. 

“This project aims to enhance co-operation among EU member states in monitoring, securing and defending critical seabed infrastructure against various threats, including sabotage, terrorism and espionage,” Martin told the Dáil.

“It involves developing capabilities for surveillance, reconnaissance and response in maritime environments, as well as fostering information sharing and co-ordination among participating member states.”

A recent Department of Defence assessment cited damage to Undersea Infrastructure as one of the key risks facing Ireland.

So, do either of these two projects betray Ireland’s neutrality, or put us on a pathway to war?

“In short: no,” Professor Ben Tonra of the UCD School of Politics and International Relations told The Journal by email.

“Consecutive Irish governments over the last number of decades have defined Irish neutrality in terms of non-membership of military alliance,” he wrote.

“It has never been defined as non engagement in defence cooperation with other EU partners. Indeed, Ireland is a full participant in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of which PESCO is an integral part.

“The only institution that can ever send Irish troops overseas – in any capacity- is the Oireachtas,” Tonra said.

Senator and former army officer Tom Clonan also agreed with this assessment.

“We have nothing to benefit and a lot to lose by joining a military alliance such as NATO,” Clonan told The Journal. “From a diplomatic perspective, for trade, for all sorts of reasons, our neutral status is very valuable.”

Clonan said that Ireland’s neutrality has helped important humanitarian missions to be undertaken in sensitive environments, as had our history of never being a colonial power

“Our military neutrality would be impacted if we formally joined a military alliance. We haven’t done that,” Clonan said of the PESCO projects. Other neutral states — like Austria, like Switzerland — they do participate in collaborative arrangements with other states, and I think that is a useful and positive and constructive thing to do.”

Clonan noted that we have previously shared airlift capacity with other countries to get our people out of warzones.

“Our own defence requires significant investment so that we can actually call ourselves neutral and have sovereignty when it comes our own defence and intelligence,” he said.

“But things like being able to protect our undersea cables and that kind of infrastructure, and our windfarms and our maritime environment — that’s very important. And if we can get collaboration and assistance from the Europeans, that’s a kind of capacity multiplier for the Irish taxpayer.”

Clonan did, however, say that some of the concerns raised in the Dáil did have a valid basis, saying that Ireland has become more integrated into European military, security and intelligence structures, though he did not see this necessarily as a bad thing.

Verdict

Claims that Ireland’s participation in two PESCO projects would send “kids off to fight” are FALSE. As per our verdict guide, this means the claim is inaccurate.  

The term neutrality has been defined in different ways, but neither of these projects enter Ireland into a military alliance or remove the triple-lock mechanism.

Broader arguments that this signifies an increase in Ireland’s militarisation, or that it should be seen as part of a trend toward future conflict are a matter of opinion, and so are outside the scope of this verdict.

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