MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2023) Ireland has no intention of abandoning its neutrality and joining NATO the way Finland and Sweden sought, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Thursday.
Discussions of Ireland possibly joining NATO were sparked by an alleged sighting of Russian ships close to Ireland's north-west and south-west coastline in March. Some view the security consultations that followed the incident as an attempt to push Ireland into the alliance.
"(Ireland is) never going to be a significant military power, is never going to be a huge asset to NATO, if we ever were to join it," the prime minister told the Financial Times newspaper.
Varadakar said that Ireland's role in any conflict, including in Ukraine, is limited to supplying only non-lethal equipment and humanitarian aid.
The newspaper noted that Ireland's neutrality is backed by its relative distance from continental Europe and history as a British colony. Despite that neutrality, Vardakar said that partners from the European Union appreciated contributions that Ireland was making to their Ukraine aid efforts.
"No country in western Europe, on a per-capita basis, has accepted as many (Ukrainian) refugees as we have," the prime minister said.
Sweden, along with Finland, submitted its NATO application in May 2022, several months after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine. Finland became a member of the alliance in April 2023. Sweden's application is still pending ratification by Hungary and Turkey.
