Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Seán Crowe (SF), Dublin South-West

I remember the Nice treaty and the Lisbon treaty and the assurances given to the Irish people at the time. I made the point that the Irish people do not trust the Government, they do not trust us and I do not think they trust the people in this Chamber. People have huge difficulties about this. The world needs more honest brokers like a neutral Ireland. We have never been a coloniser. We have never invaded another country. We are respected as peacekeepers and peacemakers. We have experienced conflict and division on our own island and we have practical experience of building peace. This is the approach and it has also allowed us to do vital work, including nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament and humanitarianism. By removing the triple lock we are signalling to the world that we are ready to cast off our neutrality and embrace the wave of militarism sweeping Europe and the rest of the world. It is not good enough that the Government would use the Irish Defence Forces as a political bargaining chip when it has singularly failed to address the serious problem with retention and recruitment that the Army, the Naval Service and the Air Corps have been experiencing for years. The problem is not with the Security Council or anyone else but that people in this House have run down the Defence Forces. This is the biggest challenge with our Defence Forces as we move forward.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17