President Higgins has said that if Ukraine became neutral it would be more likely to lead to peace.
His comments were criticised by Neale Richmond, a Fine Gael TD, who said they were “not in tune with the reality of what’s happening” in eastern Europe.
Higgins yesterday issued a statement about a letter he had written to the leaders of a group of EU member states on the urgent need to bring an end to the violence being inflicted on the people of Ukraine by Russia.
He said the most “urgent task” was to stop the killing, achieve a ceasefire and allow the full flow of the humanitarian relief that is necessary. “To do this, I must repeat that we need to utilise every chink of diplomacy that is left,” he said.
Higgins said that the debate on providing arms to Ukraine had “excluded some crucial opportunities” for seeking to advance peace. He suggested that Ukraine could become a neutral country.
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“I have already referred, for example, to the contribution the neutral members of the European Union might make by indicating a welcome to their ranks of Ukraine as neutrals for discussion on what might be agreed in terms of defence rather than aggression,” he said.
Higgins has courted controversy as president for his remarks that appear at odds with government policy. The government has not taken a position on Ukrainian neutrality and government ministers have not suggested that a neutral Ukraine would potentially help the country. The remarks of a president are generally understood to have been approved by the government of the day, though this does not always happen.
Richmond said the majority of remaining neutral members of the EU were having a “very serious conversation” about their neutral stance. He said Finland had increased its military spending and Denmark had announced a referendum on the topic of neutrality.
Richmond said Higgins’s track record on neutrality was “decades old”. He added: “It’s consistent with his platform that he ran on. I don’t necessarily have a problem with him saying it, I just don’t think it’s in tune with what’s happening either in Europe or in Ireland.”
The president also appeared to suggest that a neutral Ukraine would be more likely to be approved for membership of the EU.
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“The neutral member’s perspective, as I have already made clear, has real possibilities in creating the atmosphere for a meaningful ceasefire and a further move to meaningful talks for Ukraine and its people,” he said.
“Is it not appropriate for us all to consider how such an approach can help talks on membership of the European Union for Ukraine to begin? Members of the neutral group can share their different experiences, have a real diplomatic discussion on what is involved in defining defence and security?”
While the president criticised the invasion of Ukraine as an “indiscriminate” war, he did not name Russia as the aggressor in his statement issued yesterday. He said there can be “no immunity” from the “blatant ignoring” and “clear breaches” of international and humanitarian law.
Richmond said eastern European countries were in part desperate to join the EU because of Russia acting as an aggressor on their eastern fronts. “Russia doesn’t care if Moldova, Romania remain neutral. The fact is his contempt for Ukrainian neutrality is quite evident.”
Both the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of An Taoiseach declined to comment.
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However, it is understood that government figures were somewhat exasperated at the intervention but were now well used to these kind of remarks from Higgins.
This month, Leo Varadkar, the tanaiste, warned that the assumption that Ireland had made for 70 years that nobody would attack the country because it was neutral militarily was not necessarily true in a modern context.
He said: “Ukraine was neutral militarily. It was not part of any military alliance. It was attacked because it was politically part of the West, or at least wanted to be. We make the assumption that, even if we are attacked, the British and the Americans will come and save us anyway. I am not sure that is the kind of assumption a sovereign country like ours should make.”
