The Amsterdam Treaty will undermine neutrality "by drawing Ireland into a military programme, disguised as peacekeeping but which is in fact designed for war", the Workers' Party has claimed.
The common foreign and security policy of the EU will mean "Ireland loses her independent foreign policy and the right to speak out freely on any international question", according to the party's spokeswoman on the treaty, Ms Anne Finnegan.
Speaking at a Dublin press conference, she maintained that if the treaty is accepted, Ireland will not be able to speak out freely at international forums, including the United Nations. "The Workers' Party sees the United Nations as the international peacekeeping organisation" and believed it should be supported and strengthened.
She said recent developments in Irish foreign policy gave cause for concern. "Since Maastricht was passed our Government has sent Irish troops to Bosnia working under NATO command. We also have a senior Army officer working in NATO headquarters in Brussels . . . We seem to have abandoned the United Nations in favour of NATO."
She called for the renegotiation of the treaty to have a protocol inserted to protect Ireland's independent foreign policy and neutrality.
She warned that the treaty would link Ireland "to military machines such as the Western European Union and NATO. This will mean we will be contaminated with massive military and nuclear weapons capable of the total destruction of the human race."
She suggested a referendum question be put to the people asking: "Do you wish Ireland to remain neutral and have an independent foreign policy or do you want these issues to be decided in Brussels?"