Nato and Irish unity

Military alliance

Sir, – John Maguire (Letters, April 24th) is quite right. Sean MacBride expressed opposition to Nato in 1982, and at other times. By then he was a recipient of the Noble Peace Prize (1974) and shortly afterwards the Lenin Peace Prize. He was addressing a very broad audience at that time, in an international capacity. Nevertheless, it was he who based Ireland’s opposition to joining Nato, on its formation, solely on partition. The ending of partition, if it ever comes about, will put the issue of Nato membership centre stage.

Brendan Butler (April 24th) is right that countries are free to leave Nato but other countries are also free to oppose such moves in a democratic manner.

My point is that negotiations on a united Ireland would require agreement of the UK and, very likely, the support of the US and EU states to bring it about, just as the Belfast Agreement did. We can hardly expect those states which are part of Nato to be cheerleaders for Northern Ireland to leave Nato.

As I have already stated, those who are most vociferous in seeking a border poll are equally vociferous in opposition to Nato.

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If this is their reaction to this one issue, how difficult would it be to agree a united Ireland with Nato membership, Commonwealth membership, dual currencies, equality for both British and Irish identity throughout the island, continued consultation rights for the British government on issues related to what would be the British minority (as the Irish Government currently has in Northern Ireland), regional parliaments, a role for the British monarch, and, dare I mention it, the circa ¤15 billion annual subsidy to Northern Ireland currently paid by the UK?

There is need for much more research and debate on what a united Ireland could entail. – Yours, etc,

GAY MITCHELL,

(Former TD and MEP),

Dublin 6.

Sir, – John Maguire states that Ireland would inevitably become a prime target of nuclear attack if we “joined a military alliance with any of the nuclear powers” (Letters, April 24th).

If Ireland joined Nato, our military status would be similar to other small Nato member states such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

I choose these countries because they are all former members of the USSR, and yet, despite Putin’s fanatical desire to re-establish the former Soviet Union, he has not laid a finger on any of them.

In sharp contrast, the two pro-western states who are not members of Nato, Ukraine, and Georgia, but who are also former members of the USSR, have both been invaded and partly occupied.

We ignore the lessons of recent history at our peril. – Yours, etc,

JOHN McGRATH,

Ashford,

Co Wicklow.