I meant to post this before. Richard Boyd Barrett and Gerard Craughwell were on morning Ireland the other day (yesterday?) Talking about the consultative forum on security policy. Anyway Craughwell kept saying it was an open public forum and you could go to it and listen, RBB kept responding with âyou canât go to it, itâs booked outâ, repeatedly. As if his failure to book a ticket was somehow evidence of a conspiracy against him and the people of Ireland. I thought it was comical.
Switzerland and Iceland donât have armies right? Geographically, they might be better placed than Ireland to afford to remain neutralâŚ
Switzerland have an army.
Iceland is in NATO ergo is not neutral
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This is absolutely frightening.
We need to distance ourselves from the E.U and the Germans before we are dragged into a war.
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Be grand.
His main point was that the forum was heavily biased with military men and NATO shills and was handpicked to deliver a narrative.
Right wingers like you donât like when your autocratic, anti-democratic methods are challenged for what you are. Ireland is slowly moving toward a right wing fascist state under this current government.
A nawful pity SF didnt form a government in the last election.
Mr Higgins commented that the forumâs roster was stocked with âthe admirals, the generals, the air force, the rest of itâ. He also asserted that representatives from Nato countries were invited to speak to the exclusion of speakers from militarily neutral countries.
Various Opposition parties have endorsed the Presidentâs position, with People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett calling the forum a âtotal stitch-up,â which was âdripping, packed to the rafters with Nato employees, people who have worked with Nato, people associated with the military industrial complexâ.
A look at the line-up for the forum shows more diversity than the President lets on. Of the 69 panellists, 21 are academics, 16 are diplomats, civil servants or heads of Government bodies and eight are from the business and research sector.
There are just three serving military personnel, all of them Irish, plus a handful of retired officers. Two of the serving officers are generals and one is a commander in the Naval Service seconded to Natoâs Defence Capacity Building unit. Despite the Presidentâs comments, none are admirals and there is no representative from any air force.
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I think you should address why you are aligned with right wing imperialists and white supremacists here.
Itâs a grotesque attack on democracy. The people do not want our neutrality changed and that is why the govt are trying to block the other side out. Itâs fascism 101 and like during Covid, where you wanted people with different views coerced into taking a pointless vaccine or be shut out from society, here you are again, supporting a hard line autocratic, fascist ideology.
Youâre the fascist supporter.
Iâm a socialist. I support socialist politicians on their stance here and call out the right wing parties trying their best to erode our neutrality and ignoring the voice of the people. You are aligned with the right wing parties and want to send young working class men off to wars across the world all in the name of Western imperialism.
Are you not still horrified by what the West did in Iraq? Are you not ashamed of the tyrannical and apartheid regimes the West props up and supports by way of arms supplies and financial support in Saudi Arabia and Israel. Youâre a callous, cynical hypocrite.
Some fucking socialist you are 
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Are there any surveys on this?
Yes.
Teachers are incredibly highly paid with unbelievable additional perks. The whole premise of socialism is about equality fairness, when you compare the plight of nurses for example to teachers and politicians, there is huge inequality.
Iâm happy to stand my ground and state my case, Iâve conviction in what I say, thereâs decency in me and Iâm not a hypocrite.
All you offer is desperate deflection tactics of misrepresenting others when your hypocrisy and insincerity is pointed out to you. Youâre not able to explain why you are unwilling to condemn or address the neo-Nazi elements of Ukraine military, the corruption of the Ukrainian govt, the tyrannical regimes, apartheid states and genocidal dictators the West have and continue to back. When these contradictions are called out, you wonât address them - youâll only sling mud. Youâre the perfect example of far right grift, dishonesty and propaganda.
Yes, numerous polls show people donât want Irish neutrality changed. A referendum should be called and left at that but the govt know the people donât want NATO or our neutrality gone. Fascists donât really care for democracy.
This would tie in with my thoughts on the subject (after health and housing issues are, if ever, resolved):
Can you put that up.
The IT have ran with some very disingenuous headlines and interpretations of the questions with loaded questions before.
The Security Forum has come around at exactly the right moment. Interesting that SFers support Britain policing our skies.
It is sad that the crusty Student Union types wonât allow our democracy to work and want to shut down debate.
There is clear majority support for the retention of Irelandâs current model of neutrality, the latest Irish Times/Ipsos opinion poll has found, but voters also want to see the State âsignificantly increase its military capacityâ to defend airspace and territorial waters.
Asked if they support the Stateâs current model of military neutrality or if they would like to see it change, 61 per cent of voters said they favoured the current model, while just more than a quarter (26 per cent) said they would like to see it change. Thirteen per cent of respondents expressed no opinion.
Among voters who favour a change in the policy of neutrality, there is majority support for joining Nato and closer EU defence co-operation. Among these voters 71 per cent are in favour of joining a closer EU defence co-operation, while 56 per cent support joining Nato.
Though the poll findings represent a decline in support for neutrality of five points since last year, strong support remains for the status quo as the Government prepares to hold a series of public discussions about the future of Irelandâs neutrality and defence policy in general, which begin next week.
However, there is also strong support (55 per cent) for âsignificantly increasing Irelandâs military capacityâ to defend airspace and territorial waters. But a majority of voters who expressed an opinion are also in favour of seeking help from other countries for our defence needs.
Asked if Ireland should seek help from other countries to protect our undersea internet cables â a mounting concern in Europe and the United States â 48 per cent said we should seek help, with 36 per cent saying we should âuse our own Defence Forcesâ. Three per cent said the cables do not require protection, while 13 per cent said they do not know.
Asked about the arrangement under which the British Royal Air Force defends Irish airspace, 40 per cent said they were happy with the arrangement, 12 per cent said they were unhappy, 12 per cent said they were neither happy nor unhappy, while 33 per cent said they were unaware of it.
The poll was conducted among 1,200 adults at 120 sampling points across all constituencies between June 11th-13th. Respondents were interviewed at their own homes. The accuracy is estimated at plus or minus 2.8 per cent.
So youâre not a socialist, youâre a Tory.