Sir, – May I express concern at your report of an agreement on defence co-operation between Ireland and the UK, due to be signed later this month ("Ireland and UK agree historic defence agreement", January 12th). Currently, there is a deployment of eight Army personnel as part of a joint contingent under the umbrella of the Royal Irish Regiment in Mali.
The presence of Army personnel operating under British command might be construed as conferring approval of current British wars overseas and must be considered repugnant to Ireland’s policy of neutrality. The formal presence of Army personnel alongside British soldiers blurs the independence and sovereignty of the Army and sends out the message that Irish and British armies are under single command and the State is just a devolved British administration. It amounts to a surrender of sovereign control over the Defence Forces to a foreign army. Indeed, some may interpret the State’s involvement with British forces as a further sign of incremental Commonwealth re-entry.
The Army is not an imperial army. It was born out of the struggle for independence from British rule. It is an Army that has proudly and honourably served on peacekeeping missions under a UN mandate and 84 of her soldiers have given their lives on these missions.
Army soldiers have served wherever required in the world in a selfless and heroic manner for more than 50 years, not as a predatory army but as peacekeepers, acknowledged worldwide for their impartiality and professionalism and are a source of pride to Ireland. Their independence and sovereignty should not be compromised by formal associations with British or any other imperial military forces. – Yours, etc,
TOM COOPER,
Templeogue, Dublin 6W.