Sir, – Roger Cole (July 17th) in criticising Patrick Smyth's views presented to an Oireachtas Committee ("Neutrality would not prevent Ireland coming to aid of EU state under attack, committee told", July 16th) shows the lamentable way in which neutrality in this country has been fetishised and has lost any real meaning or context. Safely ensconced on a rock in the Atlantic, miles from any real threat, our neutrality has been hijacked by micro-groups that often see the world through the prism of old-fashioned anti-Americanism, beloved of the European left.
The countries on the borders of the EU, facing an aggressive nationalist Russia and Islamic extremism and terrorism, don’t have the luxury of taking a smug high moral tone. They see the EU and Nato as vital to their existence. We are part of a European Union that guarantees free movement of people and goods and has supported us financially and economically over the last three decades.
Are we to suggest that were a fellow member attacked that we would do nothing? That is not neutrality but cowardice. – Yours, etc,
PAUL WILLIAMS,
Kilkee,
Co Clare.