EACH LIVING GENERATION in Ireland has witnessed at least one major failure in governance. My first taste of this was the financial crash.
Beginning secondary school in 2007, I was oblivious to the fact that I was about to receive a political education that was more immersive than any of the Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) curriculum’s creators could have conceived. In real time, my CSPE teacher had the unenviable job of explaining the recession to a classroom of working class kids, whose lives were immediately impacted by the financial crisis.
Teachers became interpreters to a generation gripped by a sense of dread that we did not understand, each evening when the Six One news relayed bleak updates in a language we did not speak.
Many of my classmates saw one or both of their parents becoming abruptly unemployed. Grown-ups were all up the walls about pensions and mortgages and things that teenagers did not care about or understand. People were packing up their lives in Dublin to find somewhere they could afford to live in these circumstances. That was the best case scenario, for many. There were innumerable people losing parents and relatives to suicide as a direct result of the crash and the subsequent bailout years.
Much of the suffering was foreseeable, which makes that era particularly painful in hindsight. Government policy set the table for this disaster, to which Ireland had a unique exposure. We were failed and sold out by people who chose wild profits over the long-term well-being of the electorate. The same chain of events brought us to the next generation’s big failure: a housing crisis upheld by policy decisions that limit the supply of housing, fail to deal with dereliction and buoy the bank balances of institutional landlords, before anyone else.
The next disaster is imminent
We’re still reeling from those two disasters, and it’s quite clear that the nation has enough on its plate, particularly as global conflict adds additional pressure to the cost of living crisis. The very last thing Ireland needs right now is another self-inflicted crisis. Yet, the government is gearing up for it by embracing militarism.
We’re in an advantageous position right now, where we can still prevent this. Fianna Fáil has turned its crosshairs to the Triple Lock, our legal mechanism requiring three layers of approval before more than 12 Irish troops can be deployed anywhere overseas. Experts say with certainty that the attack on our neutrality may begin with the Triple Lock, but it won’t end there. More than 400 academics called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to “face down warmongers and redouble Ireland’s commitment to peace and neutrality” by maintaining the mechanism.
Few want to see the Triple Lock removed, particularly as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to senselessly displace and kill thousands of people on the European continent. Social media allows us to watch a genocide occur in real time, offering a window into the egregious violence and tyranny of war across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This month, we saw the state of Israel brazenly abduct 14 Irish citizens (including the President’s sister) from international waters, before subjecting them to abuse and humiliation. These horrors make it feel like war is closer than ever to our doorstep, but even as fears heighten, neutrality continues to poll favourably with the majority in Ireland, with many viewing neutrality as a core part of our national identity.
Before the crusade on the Triple Lock, the Taoiseach had referred to the mechanism as “the core of our neutrality.” We have a long history of democratically rejecting threats to our neutrality and sovereignty, including the controversial Nice and Lisbon Treaties. But it’s easy to see where this new pressure on the government is coming from, as tensions rise in light of geopolitical developments.
The European Union has an unfathomable €800 billion budget for its ReArm Europe initiative. The United States is currently active in six different wars, with a $954 billion (€820.01 billion) annual budget to facilitate this, more than the next six countries combined. Nato’s appetite to expand is growing. None of this has anything to do with Ireland, as a neutral country, but the government is being corralled into the military spending circus. This will inevitably come at a great financial and human cost to the Irish public if we do not resist it now.
The land of saints and soldiers
With Ireland’s neutrality under attack, we’re seeing pro-militarisation voices increasingly platformed by Irish media. This spiked on the road to Catherine Connolly’s presidential election, with commentators scrambling to suggest that Connolly’s commitment to peace represented some kind of shortcoming or a lack of strength. Yet Connolly won by a landslide, as the public mirrored her inclination for peace.
Since then, we’ve heard from a steady stream of paternalistic naysayers who suggest a “grown up” approach to militarism. We’re told that Ireland’s neutrality is “delusional” and “outdated” and that it’s untenable in the modern age, where the threat of war is rife. Yet, our neutrality saved countless lives throughout a World War, the Cold War and the War on Terror (among other conflicts).
In addition to seeing voices like Jock Stirrup, former head of the British army, taking to the pulpit with concern about Ireland’s military future, we have also seen the profiteers of war embed themselves within Irish communities. Last year, US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin was briefly listed as a sponsor of the Bray Air Show, before being ousted due to public backlash.
For weapons and aerospace manufacturers, Ireland represents the lucrative green pastures of a market that has barely been tapped into. Defence contractors are salivating at the prospect of Ireland abandoning its neutrality. They will be the primary winners if the government takes the first step towards the front lines by dismantling the Triple Lock.
It’s in the interest of these profiteers to suggest that there’s a major threat to our national safety if we don’t amp up our military spending. Even with the support of the EU, there’s no amount of spending that could allow Ireland to keep pace with juggernauts like Russia, China and the United States, though I’m sure weapons manufacturers would like to see us try.
If anything, wading into wars with what little spending Ireland is capable of, would represent a significant threat to our security. As it stands, our tried and tested method of neutrality and peacekeeping has shown the world that we do not pose any threat.
Kelly Earley is a writer and podcaster from Coolock, who has a deep interest in culture, technology, community and social justice. She writes for The Journal every week.