During the Second World War, the Irish Republic remained neutral, a stance that became a core part of Irish identity and axiomatic to its foreign policy. Consequently, Ireland is not a NATO member.
However, it is possible to argue that Irish neutrality is and has never been absolute. During World War Two, the Irish government allowed around 250,000 Irish citizens to emigrate to Britain to help Britain’s war effort by working in factories and fighting in the British armed forces. These volunteers were motivated by a range of considerations, such as loyalty to the British Empire, a revulsion for fascism and a desire for adventure and glory. Britain ought to do more to acknowledge these volunteers whose blood, sweat and tears were shed in the mortal struggle with Hitler.
The Irish government also gave permission to its meteorologists to provide vital information about the Atlantic’s weather which helped the Allies choose a day of calm seas for D-Day. When German and British pilots crash landed on Irish territory, the German pilots were interned whereas the British pilots were repatriated.
It is a little-known fact that Ireland continues to subvert its neutrality policy by relying on Britain to guarantee its security. Reports emerged last year of a secret deal struck in 1952 between Dublin and London that permits the RAF to intercept hostile aircraft trespassing in Irish airspace. As Ireland’s military was and remains incapable of performing this role (its defence spending for decades has been well below one per cent of GDP), it has fallen to its better armed neighbour’s responsibility to provide this service.
Europe’s changed geopolitical landscape and the strategic importance of Europe’s communications with the US make Irish neutrality-cum-dependence on Britain a foolish policy. The Ukraine War has revealed the scope of Russian aggression against nations that it regards as militarily vulnerable. Ireland does not border Russia, but Russia’s Sodcit strategy means that Ireland is now on the frontline. This strategy is the subversion of an enemy’s critical infrastructure through sub-threshold warfare. Three quarters of all underwater communication cables in the northern hemisphere pass through Irish waters. Twelve cables connect Ireland to the UK, most of which then extend to the Continent. If Russia can disrupt this interconnectivity during a war with NATO, it will gain a significant advantage. It is no coincidence therefore that Russian incursions into Irish waters have increased recently. As Britain is supporting Ukraine with expensive military hardware and is involved in military operations around the globe, such as defending merchant ships against Houthi-Iranian terrorism, it is not fair on British taxpayers to subsidise the freeloading Irish state.
The Irish government has taken some measures to become a nation whose military is fit for purpose. It has, for instance, pledged to increase defence spending by fifty per cent, but this increase begins in 2028. If Sinn Fein wins the next Irish election in 2025 as the opinion polls suggest is likely, it will, according to the party’s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence, John Brady TD, invest more in the Irish military in order to end Ireland’s dependence on foreign powers. However, Sinn Fein affirms its commitment to Ireland’s neutrality. What then is to be done?
Britain and the rest of NATO cannot gamble the eastern Atlantic’s security on the outcome of Irish elections and the defence policy of a nation that remains wedded to neutrality. The key to keeping Russia and other enemies away from the sea cables is Northern Ireland. The Royal Navy has a base in Londonderry and the RAF has a base in Nutts Corner. The RAF base at Ballykelly, which was crucial to the NATO defence of the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap during the Cold War, is closed but can be made operational again. These bases were vital in the war against German submarines operating in the Atlantic during the Second World War and ensured the protection of American troops crossing the Atlantic. If Russian submarines deploy to cut the cables and American troops have to mobilise in Europe again, these bases will be vital in protecting both cables and American troop ships.
Britain’s defence spending therefore must prioritise these bases’ expansion and to the reopening of Ballykelly. A future Sinn Fein government may protest, but this is not a recrudescence of British colonialism as Sinn Fein might present it, but a necessary strategy for protecting NATO from which Ireland will benefit. The British, American and EU governments must also pressurise Ireland to ensure that its military spending increases significantly and that consequently it makes a worthwhile contribution to the eastern Atlantic’s security and defends its own airspace.
When the Republic left the British Empire on 6 December 1921, it declared itself to be a sovereign state, yet a truly sovereign state is able to defend its people, its strategic interests and those of its allies and partners. If Ireland is to be a truly sovereign nation, it is imperative that it shoulders its strategic responsibilities rather than relying on other nations and their taxpayers to do it.
Peter Harris is the author of two books, The Rage Against the Light: Why Christopher Hitchens Was Wrong (2019) and Do You Believe It? A Guide to a Reasonable Christian Faith (2020).
If you enjoy The New Conservative and would like to support our work, please consider buying us a coffee – it would really help to keep us going. Thank you!
Is there really any point building up the forces and new bases, when every single day Ireland and the UK are being invaded by a foreign army of young fighting age men? These men our leaders allow to be looked after better than our pensioners!
Instead of spending tax payers money on fighting a Russian army who wouldnt give a care about us, if the West would just stop poking the bear, how about we deal within the invasion that is being allowed by our leaders and destroying our countries from within?
I suppose we just enlist lots of young native men to defend our open borders, so they can end up dying for leaders who hate them and are actively replacing them?
Interesting thoughts but too heavy on the usual “Russian Threat” and Ukraine. Ireland is more of a direct threat to the UK through it being run by EU lap dogs who have acquired what they think is finally some bite in their anti-English preoccupations. The UK has been weak in its relationship with Ireland ever since it split from the UK and should have threatened ending the common travel area and all the other benefits that still come from the Century old divorce settlement. Time for a new 21st century relationship, particularly now that “Rome Rule” has all but ended but this won’t be possible because of US/EU interference and Nationalists anti-British sentiments. Maybe the flooding of Ireland with illegals might ironically help stimulate affairs.