Ireland, Neutrality and European Security Integration

An examination of the compatibility of neutrality in Ireland with increased co-operation in European security. The research covers all the main events of the 1990s, analyzing them from an Irish perspective. This is significant because Ireland changed its orientation during 1999 towards engagement in European security structures. Consequently this work aims to demonstrate how developments in European security in the EU and beyond affect Irish neutrality, and to analyze the compatibility of Irish neutrality with current and future developments in this area. From this flow two objectives. Firstly, an assessment of the level of Irish engagement in European security developments since 1992, linking this with neutrality in order to determine whether neutrality has constrained Irish participation in European security structures. Secondly, the research argues that Irish neutrality is compatible with developments in European security, including in the EU context, in the short to medium term. However, in the longer term security and defence integration in the EU will mean that Ireland will eventually have to choose between neutrality and full integration into the CFSP. Other issues examined as a result of these objectives are: that events outside the EU, in NATO and in WEU, have an impact on Ireland and on the CFSP; that Irish neutrality is capable of great flexibility and will be stretched to the limit before its core of non-involvement in military alliances will be abandoned; that Ireland has not reached a watershed in its approach to neutrality; and that neutrality is not under any direct pressure within the EU.