Northern Ireland

Two thirds of voters support keeping Ireland's neutrality in new poll

President Higgins and leading politicians have said there should be a well informed debate on Ireland's neutrality in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
President Higgins and leading politicians have said there should be a well informed debate on Ireland's neutrality in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. President Higgins and leading politicians have said there should be a well informed debate on Ireland's neutrality in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

TWO thirds of voters in the Republic support the state's position on neutrality, according to a new survey.

With political leaders and even President Michael D Higgins saying there should be a debate about neutrality in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an Irish Times/Ipsos poll has found that only 24 per cent are in favour of change.

Neutrality is generally understood as precluding the Republic from joining any military alliance – such as Nato – and requires a United Nations Security Council resolution for Irish troops to be committed abroad.

While 70 per cent of those surveyed support tougher sanctions against Russia, that support does not extend to helping Ukraine with military aid.

Just 35 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement: “Ireland should send military aid to Ukraine, even if this affects our neutrality”, while 55 per cent disagreed.

A similar majority are opposed to Ireland’s involvement in greater EU military co-operation.

Just a third of voters said they wanted to see Ireland "play a greater military role to defend the EU”.

Two thirds of respondents said they supported the current model of neutrality, while 24 per cent said they would like to see it change.

Support for neutrality was consistent across all age groups in the poll of 1,200 conducted on April 11 and 12.

Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil voters are most likely to favour no change with support among Fine Gael supporters also high at 61 per cent.