Stick her into neutral there.

Is Ireland’s neutrality a good or a bad thing?
Do Irish people actually support neutrality or is it today a case of “if it’s not broke…”?
Is it an appropriate stance for the country to take in this day and age? The circumstances that supported the adoption of a neutral stance 70-80 years ago have changed dramatically over that time.
Are we really a neutral country or is it a case that the government have sold out on it?
Has it helped or hindered us?
Should it be a source of pride or shame?

Apologies for the lack of structure in the post. Just wanted to get peoples opinions.

RMDrive wrote:Is Ireland’s neutrality a good or a bad thing?
Do Irish people actually support neutrality or is it today a case of “if it’s not broke…”?
Is it an appropriate stance for the country to take in this day and age? The circumstances that supported the adoption of a neutral stance 70-80 years ago have changed dramatically over that time.
Are we really a neutral country or is it a case that the government have sold out on it?
Has it helped or hindered us?
Should it be a source of pride or shame?

Apologies for the lack of structure in the post. Just wanted to get peoples opinions.

While in theory we are I don't think we have really acted as one. WW2 on ole hitlers european leg we allowed the allies conviently back over the border dock in Galway etc while Jerry has to make do with the curragh(alright when it was over a lot of them tried to stay here).
Shannon stop over etc.
it's good for our CV as it makes us friendly to all but we still support the West (and rightly so look at our finanical dependence on them).
RMD you have just opened a hornrtd nest and there are no right answers because every one can argue there side of the coin.

I think military neutrality is the correct position for a nation of this size and we have still - through the UN - more than pulled our weight in international peace keeping missions all over the world for over 50 years now in line with our Constitution.

I often think however that should a major WW3 conflict ever break out our neutrality would count for nothing and we may well be used as a testing ground for attacks on the UK.

We were stuck in "neutral" since Independence until the '90's when we found the gearstick could be worked in conjunction with the clutch and we "got her into top" but the pressue plate warped and now we're stuck again....in reverse.

Great thread, RMD.

As someone who fought in Vietnam for God knows how many years, I thought I'd add my thoughts. The safest option for Ireland may not be to remain neutral (the best form of defence is attack, thats the Meath motto), so sitting around doing nothing is not good. But at the same time, we wouldn't want to go making enemies out of North Korea, China, USA, Cuba or Japan because they possess enough nuclear weaponry to bomb us back to the stone age. The bomb in Hiroshima killed what? 100,000 people? Well a hydrogen bomb for example is a million times more powerful than any atomic bomb (all to do with fusion and fission, very scientific area, I am only one of about ten people in Ireland who is learned in this field). Anyway to cut a long story short, if any modern day hydrogen bomb went off in Ireland, chances are we'd all die.

So I think we should remain neutral but stick in close with the Chinese/Koreans/etc, that is where any revolution will take place.

We have some military geniuses on here - great stuff lads .........

Neutrality is a must.

Why spend money on defence? Who is going to attack ROI?

Or as Tony benn once said "what good are nuclear weapons, we are never going to use them. They haven't prevented either Gulf War".

So instead of spending loads of money on defence to make steel producers and arms sellers billions, spend it on education, health, creating a better society, and stuff like that.

You know it makes sense.

People might attack us to prove to the United Kingdom they mean business.

Member didn't a load of lads blow up a few countries friendly with Russia to get at them.

In my opinion, we need to distance ourselves from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Keep in with the North Koreans and the Chinese.

If there is a war, are the people from the six counties going to help us? Given a few recent cowardly acts, I wouldn't holy my breath.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:People might attack us to prove to the United Kingdom they mean business.

Member didn't a load of lads blow up a few countries friendly with Russia to get at them.

In my opinion, we need to distance ourselves from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Keep in with the North Koreans and the Chinese.

If there is a war, are the people from the six counties going to help us? Given a few recent cowardly acts, I wouldn't holy my breath.

Anything for an olmpic gold ehhh loyal.
Personally we sould play a game of RISK at the meet 7 Greet to decide if we go east or west.

If anyone is going to protect Ireland it would be America due to our long history with them. Anyway, cant see Ireland being attacked in any way whatsoever. All over the world people know that we are a country that stood up to british rule and we are a country that just wants to be left alone and get on with our day to day lives and we keep our noses out of other countries business.

Its a checkmate situation for all countries, for example in Cuba were to nuke Ireland, I would be 90% certain that America would nuke them.

As far as I am aware we dont have any agreement with any other country in regards to if we are attacked will you defend us. Thats the UN's job.

GAA-Fan wrote:If anyone is going to protect Ireland it would be America due to our long history with them. Anyway, cant see Ireland being attacked in any way whatsoever. All over the world people know that we are a country that stood up to british rule and we are a country that just wants to be left alone and get on with our day to day lives and we keep our noses out of other countries business.

Its a checkmate situation for all countries, for example in Cuba were to nuke Ireland, I would be 90% certain that America would nuke them.

As far as I am aware we dont have any agreement with any other country in regards to if we are attacked will you defend us. Thats the UN's job.

Cuba? Cuba have a couple of old shotguns, that's it.

And the UN were not able to protect Iraq when they told the septic tanks and the cow's tits not to attack them.

Also they keep telling Israel not to attack Palestine, doesn't work.