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.