Yes is a vote for neutrality, Smith says

The Minister for Defence has dismissed claims that the Nice Treaty, if passed in next week's referendum, will erode Irish neutrality.

At the annual PDFORRA delegate conference in Ennis, Co Clare, yesterday, Mr Smith said that far from endangering our neutrality, the Nice Treaty actually enhanced it. He told delegates that a Yes vote for the Nice Treaty was a Yes vote for Ireland's continued neutrality. Through the Seville Declaration, the Government had obtained formal recognition from Ireland's EU partners of the country's neutral status.

"This recognises the fact that our long-held position will only ever change if the Irish people so chose in another referendum. The proposal to insert this provision in the constitution is a significant change from the last Nice referendum and gives constitutional effect to the commitments made by successive Governments."

Mr Smith also said it was his firm belief that "to reject the Nice Treaty would be to fly in the face of our long involvement in the overseas humanitarian and peacekeeping missions".

Ireland would be signalling to the EU, the applicant countries and the world that it was "turning its back on millions of people seeking to build better lives within an expanded Europe". If Ireland voted No, he said, it would send a clear signal that it no longer saw itself as a pivotal part of the European family.

"The applicant counties look to Ireland as a role model. They are depending on us and to let them down would be unthinkable. As a confident, mature, vibrant and forward-looking member of the EU, we have no choice other than to ratify the Nice Treaty."

Mr Smith said there had been a shameful, deliberate distortion of the facts to confuse the electorate on the real purpose of having a European Rapid Reaction Force.

"As part of the Rapid Reaction Force, our Defence Forces will participate on a case-by-case basis only, under a UN mandate and with the approval of the Government and Dail Éireann. We will not become part of an EU common defence arrangement or part of a European army unless the Irish people direct it through a referendum."