According to Tánaiste Micheál Martin this week, there is “no connection” between the Triple Lock and Ireland’s military neutrality – despite him previously saying that the Triple Lock is “at the core of our neutrality.”
On Thursday this week, the Tánaiste said that a government proposal to amend the triple-lock will be published by September at the latest.
Martin, who also serves as Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs, received Cabinet approval in April to amend Ireland’s triple-lock system.
The triple-lock is a three-stage process for authorising the deployment of Irish troops on peacekeeping missions abroad, requiring the approval of the Government, the Dáil, and the UN Security Council.
However, the five permanent members of the Security Council – the US, Russia, China, France, and the UK – have the power to veto proposals. This has led senior government officials, including Martin, to claim that it is “morally wrong” for Russia in particular to have the ability to veto the deployment of Irish troops abroad.
“What we would propose into the future is that in the amendment to the triple lock,” he said, adding: “…I would have to reassert the point that there is no connection between the triple lock and our military neutrality.”
However, this is starkly at odds with what the the Fianna Fáil leader said on the matter in 2013.
Speaking in the Dáil while in opposition in December 18th 2013, Martin slammed the then-Fine Gael Defence Minister for trying to “water down” the triple lock.
“Earlier this year, the Minister for Defence signalled that he would try to water down Ireland’s commitment to the triple lock, which is at the core of our neutrality,” he said at the time.
“He presented the idea that it was contradictory and that we were giving unsavoury countries a veto over our actions. This argument has been behind the efforts of a wing of Fine Gael to erode neutrality over the years.”
Martin went on to say that he “completely rejected” this notion.
“The United Nations is not working as it should, but we must not abandon it as an essential part of the international system,” he said.
“Ireland has, and always will have, a limited defence capability. Focusing this on humanitarian actions is not only the right thing to do, it has full democratic legitimacy.”
The Fianna Fáil leader further said that the triple lock policy should “reflect the will of the people”, and not the “preferences” of the ruling political party.
The news comes amid ongoing controversy regarding modification of the triple lock, with opposition parties insisting that any change in this area will damage Ireland’s tradition of neutrality.
The government has consistently insisted that this is not the case, and that any suggestion that it will impact on neutrality is completely wrong.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin will seek Government permission to draft a bill to change how the Defence Forces are deployed on peacekeeping missions overseas https://t.co/7ng78mvUZ3
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) April 30, 2024