| Government Argument v Counter Point. | |
| 1 What the government says: | The United Nations (UN) undermines Irish sovereignty e.g.”Russia has a de facto veto over Irish troop deployments.” |
| Rebuttal: | *The UN is the world’s main peacekeeping body. Ireland signed up to UN rules when we joined in 1955. Ireland should not undermine the UN but instead work with other neutral and non-aligned countries to reform and re-establish the primacy of the UN as the forum to uphold international law and for resolving international disputes and conflicts *The Irish “Triple Lock” means that deployment of more than 12 members of the Irish Defence Force overseas on an armed peacekeeping mission requires authorisation of the mission by the UN, Irish Government, and the Dáil. The adoption of the Triple Lock including the UN requirement was a ‘sovereign’ decision made by the Irish people when they voted for the Nice 2 and Lisbon 2 Treaties. (The Triple Lock and Neutrality were enshrined in solemn National Declarations attached to both treaties.) *Current arrangements do not allow Russia or any other permanent member of the UN Security Council – the UK, China, the US and France – to effectively have a veto on Ireland participating in UN peacekeeping missions as the UN authorisation requirement can be obtained through either the UN Security Council or a UN General Assembly resolution. The government chooses to ignore this fact in its argument. * The Triple Lock does not apply for genuine overseas humanitarian rescue or emergency missions. *Only once has any of the 5 Permanent Members of the UN Security Council vetoed a peacekeeping mission (i.e. China 1999, before the Triple Lock existed). *Successive opinion polls demonstrate that the majority of the electorate want our current neutrality policies retained. The Triple Lock is central to our policy of neutrality, a policy which has been central to our ‘sovereignty’ as a State. |
2 What the government says: | Neutrality and the Triple Lock are NOT linked e.g. “Don’t conflate neutrality with the Triple Lock.” |
| Rebuttal: | * Micheál Martin, as leader of the opposition in 2013, said that the Triple Lock is “at the core of our neutrality.” * If we remove the UN mandate requirement, any Irish Government of the day could deploy troops to missions that take sides in conflicts—which is the opposite of neutrality. (e.g If the EU sends a battle-group to Ukraine or Palestine without UN approval, and Ireland joins—we will no longer be a neutral state.) This illustrates how the ‘Triple Lock’ and neutrality are intrinsically linked. |
| Government Argument v Counter Point. | |
| 3 What the government says: | The Triple Lock is not fit for purpose. e.g. “it’s outdated – we need flexibility for evacuations, cyber security, and undersea cable protection.“ |
| Rebuttal: | *No provision of the “Triple Lock” system prevents Ireland’s participation in humanitarian missions. *Evacuations – do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Triple Lock. Ireland can evacuate Irish Citizens at will in any form it wants. *Cyber attacks – Military deployments don’t stop hackers. That’s a technical issue. The Triple Lock does not stop us from protecting our critical infrastructure and nor does it stop investment in cybersecurity . *Undersea cables –At present 14 cables land in Ireland. No damage to Irish cables has been recorded from acts of aggression; all damage recorded has been down to fishing and natural events underwater. Mitigating against extreme weather events is actually the most crucial step towards improving Ireland’s undersea cables security. Undersea cables are unprotected for 1000s of kilometers while crossing the Atlantic. What point would there be to protect the cables for 13 km in Irish waters, while leaving them exposed for 1000kms? The cables are the assets of private companies, which begs the question how many assets of how many companies are the Irish public expected to protect? Private companies want tax cuts for their own profits under the guise of security. Companies must pay for their own expenses, and looking after one’s own products is clearly a company expense. |
| 4. What the government says: | “The world has changed. It’s not 1939 – we must adapt.” |
| Rebuttal: | *The world has continued to change many times throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Ireland has kept its neutrality throughout the unpredictable international environment of two world wars, the Cold War, and since 9/11. *Now is the worst time to abandon our Neutrality and the Triple Lock as major powers undermine and disregarded international law and act in hypocritical fashion, pushing false narratives increasing tensions, nuclear fears and a militarisation/warfare agenda. * As we witness genocide in Gaza, wars in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and strained international relationships in the Americas and Asia the world needs neutral peacemakers and UN peacekeepers, not battle-groups and warriors. *We need the courage and the moral strength to stand by and to adhere to the obligations set out for us in Article 29 of Bunreacht na hÉireann. |
| Government Argument v Counter Point. | |
| 5. What the government says: | This is not a constitutional issue. The decision rests with the government. |
| Rebuttal: | *Neutrality is not explicitly named in the Constitution, but our constitution is devoted to peace, to resolving disputes peacefully, to international law. Article 29 clearly states: ‘Ireland affirms its devotion to the ideal of peace and friendly co-operation amongst nations founded on international justice and morality… [and] the pacific settlement of international disputes’. *Joining NATO or EU battlegroups – which are military alliances – is fundamentally at odds with our constitution. *There is a certain constitutionality to the Triple Lock because constitutional amendments (ratification of the EU Nice and Lisbon Treaties) only happened when they were accompanied by the Triple Lock. Those treaties were not accepted by the Irish people without the Triple Lock -i.e. in the Nice One and Lisbon One referendums. They were only accepted in the re-runs when the Triple Lock assurances were provided to the Irish people by successive Irish Governments in advance of the referendums. |