Former foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan has said Ireland needs to face reality on its policy of military neutrality and re-examine that long-held position in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking on RTÉ News' 'Your Politics’ podcast, he said he would not like to see the suggestion framed as "opportunism", but added there was an "opportunity" for Europe to work together.
"I don't subscribe to any form of European army and I don't believe that the Irish people have an appetite to voluntarily join NATO but I do believe we can do more."
Mr Flanagan said there are also issues with the triple lock requirement to sanction Ireland's participation in a UN peacekeeping mission.
This requires a Government decision, Dáil approval and a UN Security Council resolution.
"In order to get a UN mandate we're going to need the Russians and that's not going to be forthcoming, there are certain aspects of it that need to be looked at," he said.
The Fine Gael TD said the issue was previously debated in the "heat" of a number of EU referendums.
"Nice and Lisbon in particular, when emotion tended to trump logic when the spectre of a European army was placed before Irish mothers."
On Ireland's contribution of non-lethal material to the Ukrainian military, he said there was a "Jesuitical" distinction being made between Ireland contributing towards fuel for tanks rather than the tanks themselves.
Read more:
Neutral - but not Neutral
West letting Putin 'get away' with invasion - Bolton
Elsewhere, the former US National Security Advisor and former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton has said that "Russia is inexorably grinding away in Ukraine at a terrific human cost".
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime programme, Mr Bolton insisted that the West had let Vladimir Putin "get away with it".
"He has almost taken control of the northern coast of the Black Sea already. It remains only to get the port of Odessa and he's basically done. I think that's his objective along with another big chunk of eastern Ukraine," he said.
He added: "We have let him get away with this. The biggest failure, Biden's failure, Europe's failure was in not deterring him from undertaking this military incursion."
He said that Ireland needs to join NATO.
"I think NATO ought to invite Ireland to join. I think Ireland ought to join," he said. "You need to join the page. You need to join NATO."
Mr Bolton also said that the Russian President saw "weakness" in the West.
"I think the West did not have credibility in threatening sanctions after the invasion because Putin invaded Georgia in 2008 and got away with it. He invaded Ukraine, the first time, in 2014 and got away with it."
"He watched Biden's and NATO's catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan and he saw weakness and he calculated, and he may have calculated incorrectly but he calculated that he could get away with this invasion and that's why he started it."
