Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin
Tánaiste Micheál Martin confirmed this week that Ireland had prepared a discussion paper and signed an accompanying letter to NATO, along with Austria, Malta, and Switzerland.
Following the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance, these four countries intend to position themselves as "WEP4" (four Western European partners), and describe themselves in the letter as "the bloc's closest partners in the pursuit of common values".
The correspondence refers to the "growing importance" of their partnership with NATO in the current period, citing increasing instability on the European continent.
The four countries express an interest in participating in NATO military manoeuvres, including crisis response exercises. They would also like to gain "privileged access to NATO documents and information".
The "non-paper" also proposes increased intelligence sharing and cooperation in areas including cybersecurity, the protection of critical infrastructure, and combating "new disruptive technologies".
The contents of the letter were first reported by Austrian newspaper, Die Presse, which quoted the Austrian Foreign Ministry as saying that it plans to use the WEP4 format "to draw attention to its contribution to and opportunities for European security".
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin was asked by Galway West TD Catherine Connolly this week to confirm whether Ireland had signed this letter, as reported by Die Presse.
"As part of regular engagements and meetings between Ireland, Malta, Austria and Switzerland, and NATO, the four countries prepared a non-paper and accompanying letter last December to frame discussions," he replied.
"These set out the nature of the partnership between the four countries concerned, and noted that each country, while neutral, shares common interests in terms of European and international security."
Mr Martin said this work was consistent with the Government's desire to strengthen cooperation with international partners, including NATO, in addressing the security challenges facing Europe at present.
"As the Government has made clear on many occasions, Ireland has no plans to join NATO," he added.
Comment: The WEP4 may not be looking to join NATO on paper, but in every other respect they're clearly signalling that they're looking to be neutral in name only.