Defending Ireland’s traditional neutrality, President Michael D. Higgins contrasted the country with the Baltic states, arguing against a dangerous foreign policy “drift”. He later apologised for some of his statements that evinced criticism from Irish politicians.
This week, Ireland is holding a Government Forum on International Security. Ahead of the event, President Higgins said in an interview for Business Post that the country should stick to its traditional neutrality policy and steer clear of “burying itself in other people’s agendas”.
The Irish president rebuked the government for opening a debate on the possibility of joining NATO, and said that ministers were “playing with fire” by questioning Ireland’s neutrality.
“If you interfere with that, there’s no difference between you and Lithuania and Latvia,” President Higgins said in the interview published on Sunday.
On Monday, however, he apologised for the remarks he made in the interview about Louise Richardson, the independent chair of the government’s Consultative Forum on International Security Policy, whom he called a “dame of the British Empire”, implying she was biased towards the UK.
Several politicians called the president’s comments unfair. A statement from Higgins’s office said: “[The President] apologises for any offence which he may have inadvertently caused to Prof Richardson by what was a throwaway remark.”
However, he did not retract other points made in the interview which have fuelled the debate on Ireland’s military neutrality.
Not an insult
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Lansbergis has commented he doesn’t believe President Higgins referred to Lithuania in a negative context in his remarks.
“I would say it’s about the security situation. Lithuania is in a region that is vulnerable and close to aggressive neighbours, and there is a lot of emphasis on defence and the need to strengthen it, and that’s why the comparison is being made,” Landsbergis told reporters on Tuesday.
According to the Lithuanian foreign minister, every country has the right to choose its own way of ensuring security, whether it is a military alliance or maintaining neutrality, and such discussions are a natural consequence of changes in the security situation in Europe.
“I am familiar with the discussion that is taking place in Ireland as the country sees the emerging security challenges, it is a North Atlantic country, although not part of the alliance, and they are having that discussion, but it is entirely part of their sovereignty to decide how they see their security,” Landsbergis said.
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