Ireland - now considered one of most vulnerable countries in the EU (defense wise)

It's the stubborn anti-Nato attitude in the general Irish population and Irish politics which is the issue.

The attitude is still "who would attack Ireland?".

I'd say an island in the Atlantic is of strong strategic interest in any kind of global conflict.

Sadly a majority of Irish still refuse to believe this.

If one loves peace, one must sadly prepare for a war, this statement is true more than ever.

It is sadly a discussion with very strong opposing sides.

I personally could never make head or tail with the concept of neutrality nor did I ever see it as some form of identity.

In order for Ireland to be really neutral, the country needs a strong arms and defense industry in the first place, which the country doesn't have, the country neither invests in military and defense as well.

Sweden for instance was neutral for a long time, but had a strong military and defense industry, like Saab. Sweden also had a strong air force even during neutrality. Both Sweden and Finland abandoned neutrality for a very very good reason. Ireland doesn't even have an airforce.

Switzerland still neutral also has a military and defense industry and a well trained army.

Ireland was just lucky during the wars, and some, sadly a majority, just try to rely on that luck for the future. Ireland still tries to rely on the idea "who would attack us" and "we're so far away from Russia".

Don't ever be fooled by an attitude like this.

Russia knows this very well. In case of a major world conflict they would be interested in Ireland: The island is strategically located in the North Atlantic. The Irish would never expect and attack as well, they would stubbornly refuse that an attack would be possible at all, and they certainly wouldn't be prepared for it. All good reasons for a country like Russia.

No matter how many times people post this sort of opinion, it wont change the basic reality that we simply cannot afford to defend ourselves against anybody who would attack us.

The money that you would spend could be better spent on other things, if we had a pile of sovereign wealth then by all means spend it, but we dont.

It's possible that ( much hated ) NATO membership would be the only choice for Ireland then. Something like Iceland. They are in NATO as well, but don't have a military of their own, maybe just a coastal patrol or something like that. Or Slovenia which has out tasked the Italian air force for air defenses.

I am honestly very much in favour of Ireland joining NATO.

However the majority of the Irish population and also politics doesn't see it that way.

They think NATO is about the evil English.

What would we add to NATO?

What would NATO add to Ireland

The answer is nothing for both

A lot of comments here throwing around - 'We are Neutral' - 'We will never join NATO'

OK - so the reality is - we are not neutral and never have been - we are however Militarily Non-Aligned -

The USSR could land here in Shannon during the cold war - no where else.

The USA now lands in Shannon on it's way to wars.

We are actually in NATO - OK it's only the Partnership for Peace part - but we are still there.

We have absolutely no need for a massive force against East or West - what we do actually need is a beefed up Navy and Air Force to combat the greater issue of Ireland being a gateway for Drug Importation !

We also need a transport aircraft AND a floating hospital.

If we need money to beef up those things then we need to grasp the nettle and Hire out Shannon to the US Air Force - similar to what Iceland does with Keflavik

Still factually incorrect no matter how much you backtrack....

Maybe they should leverage all that manpower into the military.