Poll exclusive: majority favour keeping neutrality

There is overwhelming support for a retention of Ireland’s current model of military neutrality, according to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos poll. Two- thirds of voters do not want to see any change in neutrality, with less than a quarter (24 per cent) saying they wanted to see a change. Pat Leahy explains the poll results in detail.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and senior Ministers including Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney have all recently called for a debate on Irish neutrality in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the heightened threat to the European Union’s eastern members from Moscow.

President Michael D Higgins has also said that there should be a “well-informed debate” about Irish neutrality.