15th November. 

In a further blow to Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality, Simon Coveney, Minister for Foreign Affairs, yesterday signalled that the Irish state is to become further integrated into the NATO/EU proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Coveney confirmed that the Irish military would take part in an EU training programme for Ukrainian armed forces, which includes neo-Nazi units. We oppose this active collaboration of the Irish political establishment in the NATO/EU strategy to escalate and prolong the war in Ukraine. 

NATO is presently funding, arming, and training its proxy and facilitating mercenaries and fascist paramilitaries. Violence in Ukraine has escalated since the US-orchestrated coup of 2014, including the killing of 14,000 people in the Donbass by Ukrainian forces and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, which has resulted in the death and displacement of countless civilians. The proximate cause of this situation has been the expansion of NATO and its project to constrict its imperial competitor, Russia, by establishing large bases of troops and mass destructive weapons along its western and southern borders. 

The Irish political establishment won a seat on the UN Security Council by trading on Ireland’s history as a victim of British colonial rule and its military neutrality. Far from being neutral, the Irish political establishment has lined up 4 square behind the NATO/EU war effort and finds itself out of step with the majority of UN members which do not back NATO sanctions. 

It is time that Irish peace forces stopped allowing themselves to be bullied, intimidated, and blackmailed by the pro-war, pro-NATO lobby so strongly entrenched in the Irish establishment and in the Irish media. These forces have used the plight of people fleeing war in Ukraine as a political tool to garner support for their pro-NATO stance. They care very little for the other victims across the world fleeing other conflicts all of which are or were initiated or backed by western imperialism. 

It is time that the Irish government used its voice in the UN and in the EU to call for a ceasefire and peace negotiations.

Communist Party of Ireland

James Connolly House, 

Dublin.