Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-11
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Brian Stanley (IND), Laois

I would remind the Taoiseach of two things. One is that I know the UN is not perfect and the veto may be exercised, but I also told him of the 264 resolutions that were passed in a four-year period without a veto being exercised by any of the five, including the US. None of what I am saying goes against strengthening our Defence Forces capacity and having a level of co-operation in terms of sharing information, etc., with other countries. That is not the argument I am making here. If national declarations are made - the Taoiseach's party in government solemnly made those national declarations regarding the triple lock and neutrality to the Irish people - is the Taoiseach going to tear them up? They are there in black and white on those pages. He knows why they were put there. It is a good thing they were put there. Now, what he is proposing to do is stand that on its head. I reminded him that neutrality was brought in by his party in times when the world was at peril, a lot worse than what it is now.
There are some people in the world who have gone mad; I agree with the Taoiseach on that. Netanyahu, Trump and Putin have gone crazy, but what we should not do is join military alliances and add to the madness that is going on. We have bona fides and some credibility to speak at international forums because we are neutral. We need to defend that neutrality.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-11