It is gob smacking that the Dáil has yet to appoint any committees to scrutinise government in the sort of detail that is particularly necessary at a time in European history when the tectonic plates of international relations are shifting so radically.
I cannot think of any time after civil war when the opposition in the south effectively went on strike and refused to do their jobs. In Northern Ireland (with our all inclusive democratic institutions) we’ve seen governments go on strike for years at a time.
Now the habit appears to have spread to Dublin. I’ve seen the cause discussed endlessly in studios and podcasts, but I still cannot see why blocking speaking rights for a handful of independents is worth gifting the government a scrutiny free ride.
As important issues abound in the economic, social and political realms, parliamentary scrutiny is being reduced to a series of adgit prop performances in the Dáil chamber while the executive is allowed to move the debate with barely any examination.
Below all the performative politics of the chamber comes this contribution in The Irish News from former Labour Shadow Minster (and native of Camlough) Conor McGinn on what ought to be a prime focus of debate in Dublin, Irish neutrality:
…as a Westminster politician I spent countless hours defending Irish neutrality, from the corridors of Brussels to the corners of the Pentagon, and explaining the reasons and rationale behind it.
Neutrality was the right policy to adopt for the nascent Irish state, which entirely justifiably couldn’t countenance having a British military presence or control re-established, even temporarily, less than 20 years after the Treaty.
But equally importantly, it was also right that neutrality was skewed heavily in favour of the Allies, and in a practical sense Ireland hugely aided Britain and the USA in the Atlantic, sharing intelligence and flouting many other established conventions expected of a neutral country.
And of course thousands of Irishmen were permitted and bravely chose to fight fascism in the armies of other nations.
In a world where it is almost impossible to guess what the next day will bring never mind next week or next year, things are changing faster than most of us can follow. In short order the Trump presidency has turned many old certainties upside down.
The old way of doing things is being challenged such that the established means of maintaining order between nations like the UN are slumping into a sclerosis which means that the sorts of agency that neutral Ireland formerly enjoyed are disappearing.
McGinn traces this agency back to the early days of the UN (and prior to that he might also have mentioned their early participation in the ill fated League of Nations)..
…it is a logical continuation of that heritage that the Irish government now seek to amend the UN-related conditions that allow its defence forces to participate in peacekeeping and associated activities.
It is ludicrous and should be an affront to our values and sovereignty that the current policy of requiring UN Security Council approval to deploy Irish troops allows Russia and China to veto whether Ireland can take her place among the nations of the earth.
Ending that is a small and practical change, but it is a strong signal to the world that Ireland understands the disintegration of the post-1945 and subsequent post-Cold War global order, and will play its part in its own defence and security and that of its allies.
And closer to home…
For many northern nationalists, the idea of being part of any defence or security alliance involving the UK is understandably anathema because of the conduct of elements of the British Army and intelligence services in the north during the conflict.
Dublin and London can’t and shouldn’t forget that, particularly when the families of those overtly and covertly killed are still being denied truth and justice.
But we need to deal with the world as it is, not the world as we would like it to be.
The more that partition becomes irrelevant, then the likelier it is to end. That will include a reimagined Britain and a new Ireland being partners in the same multinational institutions. [Emphasis added]
This serious argument finds too little response in Dublin other than the we should keep doing things the way we’ve always done them line despite of the fact that everywhere a new class of pirate politics is changing the way the wider world operates.
And in spite of the fact that fateful description of the Ireland as a small open economy is the reason why the Republic has transformed itself from an inward looking wannabe autarky still tugging on the apron strings of Britain to full sovereignty.
This is something that matters more now that President Trump has finally made his move on the EU in his expanding trade war with the US’s former trading partners and allies. Last word to McGinn…
To turn the old phrase about global strife on its head, these days England’s difficulty is Ireland’s too. Perhaps then it is also that the world’s troubles are Ireland’s opportunity.
First published by Slugger O’Toole
Read also: Brigid Laffan, Europe is rapidly rearming. Will that leave nerutral Ireland defenceless?, Guardian
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