Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent, hears mixed reaction here to the Seville declarations on Irish neutrality
There has been mixed reaction to the Seville Summit declarations on Irish neutrality. They were generally welcomed by supporters of the Nice Treaty while opponents were sceptical about the entire procedure.
Copies of the declarations were sent yesterday by the Taoiseach to the chairman of the National Forum on Europe, Senator Maurice Hayes.
In a covering letter, Mr Ahern noted that, in his second report on the Forum, Senator Hayes had underlined the importance of assurances that Nice did not imply a departure from Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality and that there were no plans to enter a military alliance.
"All of these points are being fully dealt with in the declarations," the Taoiseach said.
A Green Party delegate to the Forum, Ms Deirdre de Búrca, said the declarations were "largely meaningless". They had not been discussed at the Forum and this was "extremely remiss" on the Government's part.
But the European Movement Ireland said the declarations should demonstrate conclusively that Nice did not involve any commitments that were out of line with Ireland's traditional status of "military non-alignment".
"It could be argued that the declarations have the same legal status as the Treaty as they make it clear that the 15 EU member-states have the same view on what the Treaty actually means," the European Movement said.
The new Fine Gael spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Mr Gay Mitchell, gave a qualified welcome to the declarations. "In order to build confidence with the electorate, pro-Nice parties must be up front, open and honest," he said. "These declarations are a welcome statement of fact but they are also a new category of declaration which are not judiciable and not formally attached to the Treaty."
While Fine Gael would vote Yes in a new Nice referendum, Mr Mitchell said a constitutional amendment on neutrality "would only give judges rather than Dáil Éireann the final say as to these sensitive issues and would be dangerous".
The chairman of the anti-Nice Peace and Neutrality Alliance, Mr Roger Cole, said the declarations had "no legal status whatsoever" and no effect on the Treaty.
People were being asked to vote again on "exactly the same Treaty" that they had democratically rejected and this was unconstitutional.
The leader of Sinn Féin in the Dáil, Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, said the declarations would not be enough to quell opposition to the running of a second referendum on a Treaty rejected by the people last year. He also challenged the Government to adopt the Constitutional amendment on neutrality which he had put before the Dáil in Bill form in April 2001.
The declarations had been "touted around" Europe by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the past week while they were hidden from the elected representatives of the Irish people.
"It is disgraceful that this text was shown only to the Fine Gael and Labour leaders and that all TDs were not afforded even the courtesy of a copy," Mr Ó Caoláin said.
Mr Justin Barrett of the No to Nice Campaign said the declarations were of no consequence: "The Treaty itself is a legal document and the declarations form no part of that document whatsoever."
He added: "The Government have made a major mistake. The average Irish person can smell a confidence trick a mile away. The Seville Summit I would compare to a three-card trick at a county fair rather than a serious political gathering."
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, accused the Taoiseach of misleading the people. "Bertie Ahern wants to give the impression that this declaration on neutrality, which is legally non-binding, will change the Nice Treaty but we know that not one single word of the Nice Treaty is up for renegotiation."
He continued: "The Irish people are being asked to vote on the exact same treaty they voted No to last year. This is totally undemocratic. It is also constitutionally suspect."
On a separate issue, Comhlámh, an association of development workers, accused the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, of "ardently supporting European proposals linking aid to developing countries with the return of migrants". Under these proposals additional Irish aid would be given to countries which promised to take back refugees.
"Ireland's aid programme has been admirable for its focus on poverty reduction in developing countries. However, the current proposal would invert that and use aid to secure our own interests.
"Minister McDowell made this radical policy shift at a time when the Ministry for Development Co-operation lay vacant and before Minister Kitt took up the post.
"This has all the hallmarks of a move that was taken without consultation with other Government departments or with Non-Governmental Organisations," said Mr Colm Ó Cuanacháin, co-ordinator of Comhlámh.