‘Neutrality is whatever the government of the day want it to mean’

Conor Gallagher's new book picks apart a core principle in Irish society

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08/06/2023 – NEWS - Image from the Launch of Conor Gallagher's new book 'Is Ireland Neutral?' In Books Upstairs, Dublin.  Photograph Nick Bradshaw for The Irish Times
08/06/2023 – NEWS - Image from the Launch of Conor Gallagher's new book 'Is Ireland Neutral?' In Books Upstairs, Dublin. Photograph Nick Bradshaw for The Irish Times

Conor Gallagher, Irish Times Crime and Security Correspondent, has a new book out Is Ireland Neutral? The Many Myths of Irish Neutrality. He sat down with Hugh Linehan to discuss what has been an accepted position since the foundation of the Free State but doesn’t actually stand up to scrutiny.

Whether an attempt to form a military alliance with France at the end of the first world war through to the part Shannon Airport plays in US military operations, the definition of neutrality here is loose at best.