The Irish government will seek public opinion on the country’s tradition of military neutrality in a consultative forum, Ireland’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. After Finland and Sweden, this is the latest sign of a possible change in military policy in this country after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, News.ro notes with reference to Reuters.

Foreign Affairs Minister Michel Martin, whose portfolio also includes defense, said the forum, which will be held in three different cities over four days in June, will focus on a range of security issues and discuss the decade-old neutrality policy.

“The international security environment has changed significantly over the past year. We have witnessed Russia’s flagrant and brutal disregard for international law,” Martin said in a statement.

“Ireland’s commitment to the rules-based international order and our traditional policy of military neutrality do not exempt us from the need to respond to this new reality,” the head of diplomacy in Dublin emphasized.

During the forum, experts on issues of security, defense and foreign policy, as well as representatives of politics, civil society, academia and other relevant bodies will be heard. Members of the public can participate and submit written contributions in advance.

Martin told national broadcaster RTE that there was no “foreseeable outcome” in the talks and that the government had no intention of changing its policy of military neutrality.

The move comes after Finland officially joined NATO on Tuesday, ending seven decades of military non-alignment in a historic policy shift prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the country could review its policy following the Russian invasion and suggested Ireland could play a greater role in the European Union’s common defense policy.

Ireland’s neutrality, championed by Prime Minister Eamonn DeValera during World War II to prevent the country from becoming a pawn in the games of the great powers, has been official policy for most of the country’s history and is widely supported. . But critics say the policy, along with the country’s low defense spending, makes it dependent on the goodwill of its allies.