Letters

Neutrality, Ukraine and Ireland

What does being neutral mean?

Sat Jul 08 2023 - 02:15

Sir, – I’m writing from Lviv in western Ukraine where recently we had yet another attack on civilian targets.

A residential block near where I’m staying was hit by a Russian Kalibr missile. Four confirmed dead, 32 injured and counting.

I was invited to Lviv on Tuesday to participate in a ceremony to commemorate the execution by German invading forces of my grandfather, who was rector of the Lviv Economics University, and 25 other professors on July 4th, 1941.

Representatives of the Ukrainian and Polish governments, academics and civil society were in attendance, speeches delivered and wreaths laid on the site of their murder.

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Obviously, the parallels with current events could not be overlooked.

The same methods once employed by the Nazis and the Soviet Union are now sadly a common feature of Putin’s methodology.

With the current debate going on in Ireland about security and what constitutes neutrality, whatever the outcome, I would add one thing to the conversation: these crimes which take place far away have a direct impact on Ireland.

I would not exist if my father (who, after his own father’s murder, fought in the Polish underground army, liberated Lviv, and then was forced to flee from Soviet persecution) did not come to Ireland and meet my mother, a Wexford native.

The ripples from such tragic events will inevitably and always affect Ireland, even more so in our globalised, digitised world.

I don’t just want to be an Irish citizen.

I want to be a good Irish citizen and that means being a compassionate person. And a smart person who knows there will be evil in the world which attempts to divide us and crush the spirit.

I vote for inclusivity and love and kindness and bravery in this matter.

Qualities I see in abundance in Ukraine at the moment. – Yours, etc

JONATHAN KOROWICZ,

Donabate,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – The notion of Irish neutrality is a gigantic act of self-deception with our hypocritical version being typical of an “Irish solution to an Irish problem”.

We need to look in the mirror and recognise that we are not, and should not be “neutral”. We simply cannot have the “best of both worlds”, depending on neighbouring nations to defend our borders.

In 1945, taoiseach and minister for external affairs Éamon de Valera made a monumental error in calling on the German minister Eduard Hempel to express his condolences on the death of Adolf Hitler – a dark and shameful act in our history.

Would our “neutrality” insist that a call be made to the Russian Embassy in similar circumstances?

I certainly hope not. – Yours, etc,

NEVILLE SCARGILL,

Bray,

Co Wicklow.