The Defence Forces are to join a UK-led EU battle group, following their participation in four similar operations undertaken since 2008.

Following a short but heated debate on the move, the Dáil voted by 95 to 31 for Ireland’s participation.

Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labour, Rural Independents, the Independent Alliance and Minister for Children Katherine Zappone voted in favour of the proposal.

Sinn Féin, the AAA-PBP, Independents 4 Change, the Green Party and Independent TD Catherine Connolly opposed participation. The Social Democrats did not vote.

Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Cyprus will also be involved in the group. Five Defence Forces personnel will have staff positions at the headquarters in Northwood and Catterick in England and will be involved in training and planning activities, according to Minister of State Paul Kehoe.

Since their introduction in 2008, no battle groups have been deployed on a mission but Defence Forces personnel have engaged in training and exercises with the forces of other EU member states.

Mr Kehoe said the term “battle group” was an unfortunate title to describe the size of a force rather than its role.

He said it did not accurately reflect the tasks that if deployed a battle group would carry out, which related to “peacekeeping, conflict prevention and assistance to humanitarian operations”.

The Minister said Ireland’s national policy “recognises the primacy of the United Nations” and stressed that “our traditional policy of military neutrality is unaffected by our involvement in EU battle groups”.

Deeply concerned

Former ceann comhairle Sean Barrett said he was “deeply concerned” about the term. Mr Barrett, a former minister for defence, called for efforts to be made to change the “battle group” title because “it rings alarm bells unnecessarily throughout the country which is world renowned for its peacekeeping” and these groups “will in fact be engaged in peacekeeping exercises”.

Sinn Féin defence spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh said battle groups were aptly named because they allowed the EU “to project its military might by retaining its capacity to rapidly deploy combat-ready troops to regions across the globe”.

Mr Ó Snodaigh said “their primary purpose is to go into battle on behalf of the EU wherever post-colonial powers such as Britain decide such action is necessary”.

The Dublin South Central TD said some people could not imagine the EU going to war “but there are warmongers in Europe and abroad who would be quick to embroil the EU and its countries in external wars”.

Mr Ó Snodaigh added that the Defence Forces were aptly named “because their role is the defence of Ireland, not the defence of everywhere else in the world”.

Fianna Fáil defence spokeswoman Lisa Chambers said her party supported the proposal as it had the Dáil motion last year to participate in the Nordic battle group, when 175 troops.

Ms Chambers hit out at what she called “the usual warnings about our neutrality being undermined. We obviously do not accept this position.”

She pointed to the “triple lock” mechanism whereby any actual participation could only go ahead with the approval of the Dáil, the Government and the endorsement of the UN Security Council.

Armed humanitarianism

Ms Chambers noted that overseas deployment had changed substantially but were perceived by the public mainly as a form of “armed humanitarianism”.

Socialist Party TD Paul Murphy said the Government and previous governments “make a lie of the idea of Ireland’s neutrality”. That happened through battle groups and “through the use of Shannon Airport” by US military.

People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny said these military formations associated Ireland “with aggression abroad, particularly in the Middle East, and will endanger Irish troops who take part in genuine peace keeping missions by undermining their claim to a genuine neutrality”.

Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly described the motion to participate in battle groups as “an affront to the concept of our neutrality”.

She said Defence Forces personnel were supporting Nato-led initiatives and were sent to countries like Afghanistan where the “so-called government has no mandate or say and which is divided between ISIS on the one hand and the Taliban on the other”.

Ms Daly said it did not matter if Ireland joined a UK battle group, the Russian forces or the American forces. “It is a fact that Nato and the EU battle groups are synonymous,” she said.

The Dublin Fingal TD said that “other EU countries like Malta and Denmark have no part in these formations. We should have not part in them either.”