Ireland–NATO relations
NATO |
Ireland |
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Ireland and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have had a formal relationship since 1999, when Ireland joined as a member of the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program and signed up to NATO's Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC). To date, Ireland has not sought to become a member of NATO due to its traditional policy of military neutrality.
Ireland with Austria, Cyprus and Malta are the only members of the European Union that are not members of NATO.
History
Background: Irish stance on military alliances prior to NATO's founding
Following the
Many countries made neutrality declarations during World War II. However, Ireland (which refers to the period as the emergency) was one of a handful of European states to remain neutral to the end of the war. For Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, the emphasis of Irish neutrality was on the preservation of Irish sovereignty. The Irish government had good reason to be concerned that supporting either side in the conflict could reignite grievances of the Irish Civil War, as there were pro- and anti-fascist movements in Ireland. The possibility that the Irish Republican Army might link up with German agents (in line with the Irish republican tradition of courting allies in Europe against the colonial power of the UK to secure their full independence), and thereby compromising Irish non-involvement, was considered. Additionally, there were fears that the United Kingdom, eager to secure Irish ports for their air and naval forces, might use the attacks as a pretext for an invasion of Ireland. It was believed that Ireland would take the German side if the United Kingdom attempted to invade Ireland, but would take the British side if invaded by Nazi Germany. In 1940, British envoy Malcolm MacDonald proposed an end to the partition of Ireland and acceptance of "the principle of a United Ireland" if the independent Irish state abandoned its neutrality and immediately joined the war against Germany and Italy. However De Valera rejected the proposals, as he worried that since unification would need to be agreed upon by "representatives of the government of Éire and the government of Northern Ireland" which distrusted the other intensely, there was "no guarantee that in the end we would have a united Ireland" and that it "would commit us definitely to an immediate abandonment of our neutrality".[1]
Ireland's fulfillment to the letter of the rules of neutrality has been questioned. Ireland supplied important secret intelligence to the
1949-1973: Early relations
Ireland had been willing in 1949 to negotiate a bilateral defence pact with the United States, but opposed joining NATO until the question of Northern Ireland was resolved with the United Kingdom (see The Troubles 1968–1998).[5]
During the negotiations to establish NATO in 1949, the Irish government was consulted on potentially becoming a member. A representative of the US State Department informed Irish ambassador
1973-1999: Initial European co-operation
Ireland continued their policy of military neutrality during the Cold War, though the country aligned economically and politically with the west and joined the European Communities (EC) in 1973. Following the end of the Cold War the EC was transformed into the European Union, and a Common Foreign and Security Policy was adopted.
1999-present: Partnership for Peace, EU defence co-operation
Official NATO–Ireland relations began in 1999 when Ireland became a signatory to NATO's Partnership for Peace programme and the alliance's Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.[5] Since then, NATO and Ireland have actively cooperated on peacekeeping, humanitarian, rescue, and crisis management issues and have developed practical cooperation in other military areas of mutual interest, under Ireland's Individual Partnership Programme (IPP) and Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme (IPCP), which is jointly agreed every two years.[12] Irish cooperation with NATO is centred around the country's historic policy of neutrality in armed conflicts, which allows the Irish military to deploy on peacekeeping and humanitarian missions where there is a mandate from the United Nations (UN Security Council resolution or UN General Assembly resolution), subject to cabinet and Dáil Éireann (Irish lower house of parliament) approval. This is known as Ireland's "triple-lock" policy.[13][14]
Ireland participates in the Partnership for Peace (PfP) Planning and Review Process (PARP), which aims to increase the interoperability of the Irish armed forces, the Defence Forces, with other NATO member states and bring them into line with accepted international military standards so as to successfully deploy with other professional forces on peace operations overseas.[15]
Ireland supports the ongoing NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) and has done so since 1999, and supplied a limited number of troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan (2001–2014), as these were sanctioned by UN Security Council resolutions. The ISAF counter-IED programme in Afghanistan was largely developed by senior officers from the Irish Army Ordnance Corps. Previously in 1997, before Ireland had a formal relationship with the alliance, it deployed personnel in support of the NATO-led peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina where much of its forces formed part of an international military police company primarily operating in Sarajevo.[16][17]
Ireland
With the launch of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) in defense at the end of 2017, the EU's activity on military matters has increased. The policy was designed to be inclusive and allows states to opt in or out of specific forms of military cooperation. That has allowed most of the neutral states to participate, but opinions still vary. Some members of the Irish Parliament considered Ireland's joining PESCO as an abandonment of neutrality. It was passed with the government arguing that its opt-in nature allowed Ireland to "join elements of PESCO that were beneficial such as counter-terrorism, cybersecurity and peacekeeping... what we are not going to be doing is buying aircraft carriers and fighter jets".
Currently no major political party supports accession into NATO as their
Former Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen said during a visit to Dublin in 2013 that the "door is open" for Ireland to join NATO at any time, saying that the country would be "warmly welcomed" and is already viewed as a "very important partner".[26]
2001-2005: US military stopovers in Ireland
Ireland's air facilities are regularly used by the United States military for the transit of military personnel overseas, mainly to the
US use of Baldonnel and Shannon has been the subject of controversy in Ireland due to revelations in December 2005 by the
Defending Irish airspace
The
The average cruising air speed for commercial passenger jets is 878 to 926 km/h,[33] while the top speed of a Pilatus PC-9 from the Air Corps is just 593 km/h.[34]
In February 2015, two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" nuclear-capable strategic bombers flew close to Irish airspace without entering it, with their transponders switched off and failed to file flight plans, causing serious concern at the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), which was forced to divert a number of civil passenger aircraft out of the path of the Russian bombers as a precautionary measure.[35] The Russian military aircraft were interrogated by RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jets scrambled from the United Kingdom, demonstrating the lack of an Irish military response and the reliance on the UK for the protection of Irish airspace. The Russian bombers did not enter sovereign Irish airspace, but the Department of Defence lodged a complaint with Russian diplomats in Dublin, and the Minister for Defence publicly vented his anger at the incursions, and the disruption and danger it caused to commercial air traffic. It later emerged that the Norwegian military (a NATO member) had intercepted Russian military communications indicating that one of the aircraft was carrying a nuclear payload (a nuclear missile that was not "live" at the time, but had the ability to be made "live" mid-air). British reports visually confirmed that one of the bombers was carrying a nuclear warhead.[36] The fact that Russian military bombers carrying nuclear weapons flew within 12 nautical miles of the Irish coast caused significant alarm.[37]
This section needs to be updated.(February 2022) |
In July 2015, the Irish government revealed plans to purchase a ground-based long-range air surveillance radar system for the Irish Aviation Authority and Defence Forces to keep track of covert aircraft flying in Irish-controlled airspace, including military aircraft that do not file a flight plan and have their transponders switched off. Minister for Defence Simon Coveney said the increased capability would give better coverage of the Atlantic airspace over which the IAA has responsibility. The long-range surveillance radar is reported to cost €10 million, and is seen as a priority purchase to provide the civilian and military authorities with an improved competency in monitoring aerial incursions.[38] The decision was widely attributed directly to the Russian incursions.
Agreements with the UK on air defence
The possibility of a hijacked airliner in Irish airspace would most likely result in a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) response by NATO aircraft, and it is believed that there are secret agreements in place with the British government regarding the defence of Irish airspace.[39][40]
In 2016 it was reported in the Irish press that several years previously confidential agreements were made between the Irish and British governments concerning the protection of Irish airspace from terrorist threats. The reports revealed that the Irish
Opinion polling on Irish NATO membership
Dates conducted |
Pollster | Client | Sample size |
Support | Opposed | Neutral or DK |
Lead | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 March 2024 | Sweden acceedes to NATO | |||||||
June 2023 | Red C | Business Post | ? | 34% | 38% | 28% | 4% | [42] |
4 April 2023 | Finland acceedes to NATO | |||||||
August 2022 | Behaviour Wise[43] | 1,845 | 52% | 48% | - | 4% | [44] | |
April 2022 | Behaviors and Attitudes | The Sunday Times | 957 | 30% | 70% | - | 40% | [45] |
26 March 2022 | Red C | Business Post | ? | 48% | 39% | 13% | 9% | [46] |
4 March 2022 | Ireland Thinks | Sunday Independent | 1,011 | 37% | 52% | 11% | 15% | [47] |
24 February 2022 | Russia invades Ukraine
| |||||||
16 March 2014 | Russia annexes Crimea | |||||||
7 August 2008 | Russia invades Georgia | |||||||
5 October 1996 | MRBI | Irish Times
|
? | 13% | ? | ? | ? | [48] |
Ireland's foreign relations with NATO member states
See also
- Foreign relations of Ireland
- Foreign relations of NATO
- Irish neutrality
- Neutral member states in the European Union
- Ireland–United States relations
- Ireland–United Kingdom relations
- Enlargement of NATO
- European Union–United Kingdom relations
- European Union–NATO relations
- Ireland–United Kingdom border
- NATO open door policy
- Partnership for Peace
NATO relations of other EU member states outside NATO:
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