It is hard to overstate the seismic shifts that have occurred in the world as we know it over the last number of weeks.

Although these global events are much more profound in the immediate term for other places and peoples, there is no doubt that they will have a huge impact too on Ireland and its future.

In some respects, that is already clear.

The debate on Ireland’s defence, security and place in the world is forcing us to grow up and take a proportionate share of our responsibility to protect and maintain the republican ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity that have underpinned the cause of democratic politics, a fair society and international solidarity on our island since 1798.

In 2025, we can’t rely any more on the image of the thatch to charm our allies. They need to be assured the pike is in there too.

Ironically, as a Westminster politician I spent countless hours defending Irish neutrality, from the corridors of Brussels to the corners of the Pentagon, and explaining the reasons and rationale behind it.

The invocation of de Valera at the German Embassy in 1945 and the idea of an Irish cop-out during the Second World War is cheap, superficial and wrong.

Neutrality was the right policy to adopt for the nascent Irish state, which entirely justifiably couldn’t countenance having a British military presence or control re-established, even temporarily, less than 20 years after the Treaty.

But equally importantly, it was also right that neutrality was skewed heavily in favour of the Allies, and in a........

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