ROBERT CHARLES
Sir, - I have been following with interest the correspondence in your columns regarding the Nice Treaty, particularly that from the Sinn Féin spokespersons in relation to Irish neutrality. It is Sinn Féin's position that the Government, in supporting the Nice Treaty, is abandoning Ireland's traditional policy of neutrality. This scare-mongering fallacy was well addressed by Michael McLoughlin (August 22nd) who left your readers in no doubt of the error of Sinn Féin's position, However, it is the irony of Sinn Féin's position that I wish to address.
Irish neutrality was developed by the founder of Fianna Fáil, Eamonn de Valera. As Taoiseach, de Valera preserved our neutrality when Ireland faced the very real threat of invasion during the second World War, the greatest war in world history. And where were Sinn Féin and the "republican movement" during this critical period? Definitely not neutral.
The IRA was in contact with Nazi Germany and collaborated fully with Hitler. The Chief of Staff of the IRA, Seán Russell, died in a U-boat while returning to Ireland from Nazi Germany. Throughout the war, Republicans harboured Nazi spies in Ireland. The IRA organised bomb attacks on British munitions factories and shipyards.
All this could easily have given the British a pretext to invade Ireland. Anyone familiar with Churchill's bombastic broadcast at the end of the war, when he lambasted Irish neutrality and boasted how easy it would have been to "lay violent hands" on Ireland, will understand how real that threat was.
Today, the successors of that "republican movement" loudly proclaim their support for Irish neutrality. When did this metamorphosis occur? Fianna Fáil has consistently pursued the policy of Irish neutrality, and maintained it when Ireland faced a real threat of invasion. Today, Ireland faces no such threat. The only countries capable of a military invasion of Ireland are our friends. Indeed, the only military threat that Ireland faces, in common with most of the civilised world, is that of foreign and domestic terrorism (an area in which some members of Sinn Féin can certainly claim a degree of expertise). Ireland's Defence Forces are equipped for a internal security role and for UN-style peacekeeping operations. They have neither the equipment nor the inclination to indulge in foreign military adventures.
Fianna Fáil members, and the members of most other parties in the Oireachtas, can look back on their record on neutrality with a considerable degree of pride. If Sinn Féin members are sincere about Irish neutrality they should address their own past and publicly distance themselves from the dangerous second world War activities of their antecedents.
Fianna Fáil's commitment to military neutrality is as real today as it was during the period 1939-1945 when it was tested - and not found wanting - in the crucible of a real war. Sinn Féin's "Johnny-come-lately" position smacks solely of opportunism. - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT CHARLES
O'CONNOR,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.