Current Policy
In February 2006, the Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea announced that the Irish government would open talks on joining the European Union battle groups. O'Dea said that joining the battlegroups would not affect Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality, and that a UN mandate would be required for all battlegroup operations with Irish participation. Green Party foreign affairs spokesperson John Gormley condemned the decision, saying that the government was "discarding the remnants of Irish neutrality".
However the opinion of Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen is that his country is no longer neutral due to EU membership and its Common Foreign and Security Policy. It is unknown to what extent other EU states such as Ireland agree with this analysis.
Read more about this topic: Irish Neutrality
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