There is a tendency on the left and right of politics to see enshrining a principle in the Constitution as a decisive gamechanger, a way of ending an argument in perpetuity. A large part of the rationale seems to be that the Dáil can not be trusted in the long term to uphold key principles and must have its hands shackled permanently by constitutional prohibition.
Such a lack of faith in the democratic rootedness of the the Dáil notwithstanding, it also seems that we refuse to learn from the difficult experience of repeated abortion amendments: firstly, that such questions are never closed by a constitutional provision, and, secondly, that the Constitution is not a sensible home for detailed policy provisions rather than the broad principles underlying it which can be operationalised by the Dáil.
Sinn Féin would have us enshrine neutrality in the Constitution in a Bill as much intended to embarrass Independents in Government who have agreed to oppose it, as actually to effect change. It proposes an amendment to prohibit any declaration of war and all military co-operation with “foreign powers” without specific Dáil sanction, and rules out membership of military alliances.
The first of the two provisions seems particularly odd given the underlying rationale that the Dáil is not to be trusted, and it also merely restates, in a diluted form, the already-binding legal obligations of the Defence Act, known as the "triple lock". The lock prohibits Irish military engagement abroad without the explicit sanction of the Government, Dáil and the UN.
The second provision – “Ireland affirms that it is a neutral state. To this end the State shall, in particular, maintain a policy of non-membership of military alliances”– begs related definitional questions about “neutrality” and “military alliances”.
If we take it that we are talking about the traditional understanding of “neutrality” – non-membership of military alliances based on mutual defence guarantees (being willing automatically to go to war on behalf of any member attacked) – then Sinn Féin’s provision merely reiterates the requirement in Article 29, 4.9 of the Constitution; “The State shall not adopt a decision taken by the European Council to establish a common defence pursuant to Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union where that common defence would include the State”.
Our neutrality, specifically both the Dáil's sovereignty over all matters of engagement in war, and non-membership of alliances like Nato, is an important and valued principle, copperfastened already in law and the Constitution.
It is not threatened or compromised in any way by discussions at EU level about deepening cooperation on peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. That is what so-called “active neutrality” is all about, and it does not need further constitutional reinforcement. Sinn Féin is tilting at windmills.