{"id":331603,"date":"2026-03-06T07:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/331603\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T07:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:01:13","slug":"ireland-is-not-powerless-or-voiceless-on-the-world-stage-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/331603\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland is not powerless or voiceless on the world stage \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir, \u2013 If the present state of world<\/a> affairs has taught us anything about ourselves it is that Ireland\u2019s voice on the world stage, as it is currently used, is a small one and is, more often than not, only raised as part of the EU27, which does not always reflect our position or values.<\/p>\n

While there may be good reasons for Ireland\u2019s voice being thus, we are, nonetheless, missing a huge opportunity to voice with moral authority an alternative way forward. Perhaps we have forgotten, or now take for granted, the tortuous route to peace on this island. <\/p>\n

The good people of Northern Ireland<\/a> \u2013 all of them \u2013 endured 30 years of war, bombs, bullets, bloodshed and atrocity heaped upon atrocity until we discovered another path. That path required people to take risks for peace. <\/p>\n

It required people to stand up to their friends, and not just their enemies. It required people to realise that agreement threatens no one and that agreement had to be found. It required people to talk to people they would rather not talk to. <\/p>\n

It required people on all sides to put aside their bottom lines. It required parity of esteem. It required honest brokers nationally and internationally and it required people who did not want their legacy to their children and grandchildren to be another generation of war and bloodshed. <\/p>\n

Most of all it required great patience, perseverance and resilience on the part of key players \u2013 it required them to bring their support bases to the table and to put away the bombs and the bullets for the greater prize of a just and lasting peace.<\/p>\n

Ireland has a very well documented blueprint for the path to peace. We have the moral authority to refer to it, as an alternative to war and violence, and as the best and only way forward. We can promote this blueprint on the world stage while at the same time avoiding direct criticism of the superpower that holds the Sword of Damocles over us. <\/p>\n

We are not powerless or voiceless on the world stage and in fact we are uniquely placed to speak truth to power. Now, more than ever, and maybe for the first time, Ireland needs to be courageous and needs to raise its voice to promote peace through internationally supported dialogue, discussion, negotiation and agreement. \u2013 Yours, etc,<\/p>\n

GARY DOYLE,<\/p>\n

Straffan,<\/p>\n

Co Kildare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir, \u2013 If the present state of world affairs has taught us anything about ourselves it is that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,2443],"class_list":["post-331603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}