Thread by @LegendaryPatMan

So on the Commission on the DF... I could go on with the thread I started but I won't

https://twitter.com/LegendaryPatMan/status/1491416231878217732?s=20

There are 3 issues though unmentioned in depth;
1. Paying for it
2. Neutrality
3. Arms Control

What I do know is that it's time to talk to yiser TD's to #FundtheDF

I have a ton I want to talk about like APC's without Level 4 armour which is a fucking disgrace, issues around air and sea control, new artillery i.e. getting rid of the 25-pdr which is older than your grandparents, the jets and long range transports, not to mention the cyberz

But realistically, I can't form good opinions on a document of such depth in just the first 6 hours of it's publication...

So how about talking about what to do now that we have the report and what is missing in a major sense? #FundtheDF

First off it's time to talk your TD's, Senators, ambitious Councliers, those we aren't elected but could in the next GE etc to #FundtheDF and implement the recomendations of this report and in my opinion, to no standard less that LOA2 as what we have now (LOA1) is unsustainable

So then how do we pay for it? The state has multiple crises on major issues like the cost of living, housing generally and specifically the plight of the unhoused, shortfalls in health specifically mental health, and education spending, to just name those close to my heart

I don't know where the money should come from but we shouldn't sacrifice important services to #FundtheDF so that means taxes go up... Now for me, I have no problem, taxes pay for services we need but given the cost of living it's a hard sell... So Corporate Tax has to go to 15%

The OECD estimates that raising the Corporate Tax level to 15% globally will raise $150Bn. Ireland won't get all of that, but for the DF to get to LOA2, we're talking about half a billion a year, now that's not nothing, it's HUGE, but it's the tax receipts oecd.org/newsroom/oecd-…

Even if we were to treble the LOA1 figure to €3Bn to get an approximate figure for LOA3, that could still be in the tax receipts as well as having money left over for other crisies too #FundtheDF

I should note that current Gov figures estimate that taxing more means earning less... irishtimes.com/news/politics/…

I'm not exactly sure how that galaxy brain math works out where taxing more means earning less but... Righto... Onwards I guess

Right get a cuppa before the next section... I have a LOT to say on Neutrality

So first up, what is Neutrality? Heh! Not a well defined idea that has shifted and changed with time, the Encyclopedia Britannica has a nice definition because it says the quiet part no one mentions out loud, yes you have Rights, but also Duties britannica.com/topic/neutrali…

So is Ireland neutral? This is a complex question... To be a legally neutral state, you must have signed up the Hague Convention (V) as in the event of war, for your neutrality to be respected, you must be a signatory, as must all of the other belligerents ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl…

To compound the issue, generally, people look towards An Bunreacht na hÉireann to affirm our neutrality but it doesn't say anything, nor does legislation... In fact, in Horgan v. An Taoiseach & Ors (High Court case 2003 No. 3739P) the judge had this to say bailii.org/ie/cases/IEHC/…

To use an Irish-ism, we are being cute hoors... We want our cake and to eat it. We want the Rights of Neutral States without the duties because that's a fair amount of extra work we'd have to do when we could be snaking into the local beer station or smoking behind the bike shed

Ultimately we are best described as a Non-Interventionist, as we choose to be part of the international community but we choose not to take part in war, as is best exemplified by the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have no issue whatsoever allowing war material to pass through

This is why we need to have a grown up discussion in Ireland on Neutrality. I think we should be! But we should also realise that sometimes it means saying yes or no to things we don't want or like because we are required to do so

Our choice is to become Costa Rica and completely demilitarize or to recognise that we are a strategically valuable place and have been since at least 1858 and recognise that the Gov has said war is “unlikely but possible” and to prepare for it like Sweden, Austria or Switzerland

In fact, the review goes on to state as much. In reality, the discussion that needs to happen isn't at the top, it's quite clear how things play out there, but that regular people like your brother or sister, ma or da etc recognise this fact

Ok... I'm sure if you've gotten this far you're sick and tired of that shit... So point 3

If you know me, you know Arms Control is important to me, why? Well when I was a kid, my da told me about the former TD for the Town, Frank Aiken and what he stood up for and believed in. He went to the UN and stood up for the smaller states like Hungary in 56 and Tibet in 59

He told me of Aiken's hatred for Apartheid in South Africa, the Right to Self-Determination, getting Europe off the ground and the Primacy of International Law, but most of all, my da told me about his belief in reducing global tensions, disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation

So much so did he believe in this stuff that he proposed a plan based on Disarmament for peace in the Middle East and was the father of the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT which has the ultimate goal of complete nuclear disarmament.

I vehemently disagree with a number of his positions but on his internationalism in which he championed a world that was fairer, more equal and peaceful, I couldn't wholeheartedly agree more with him

So what does the review have to say about it..? Uhh... Nothing... The only reference to the idea is in footnote 74...

This is a huge shame because looking at the world we live in now and the near future with climate change coming, possibly a land war in Europe and a new nuclear arms race... The need for global tension reduction and disarmament is just as great now as it was in in the 50's + 60's

And in a time when we are on the UN Security Council and have the opportunity to wield some serious power on the international stage, there appears to be no appetite to do something that you could easily delegate to @DisarmamentIRL and @irishmissionun