Military Neutrality
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-09
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

We are part of various different peacekeeping missions, including those in the western Balkans and Common Security and Defence Policy missions, although I appreciate those are separate and mainly focus on training. There are civilian missions and there are also military missions. Just now, I gave the Deputy an example of a UN mission we have been part of and contributed to for the last number of years. Our members have been held in high regard because of the experience, knowledge and commitment they have brought to that mission, Operation Irini. Because that mandate was not renewed and expired in the last two weeks, we can no longer have troops as part of that mission. Because of the triple lock, other countries can decide where we keep our troops and whether they can continue to be deployed on missions that will continue without us, as Operation Irini will. We should not allow other states to take that decision. This Bill does not change our position on neutrality and does not prevent us from engaging in other missions outside of the UN mandate structure, as we already do. It makes sure that, where we are involved in operations like the one we saw end in the last two weeks, the rug is not pulled from under us because the mission is not continuing in its current format. The triple lock binds us in a way that it should not. It does not bind other countries. Even Austria, a neutral country, is not required to go through this extensive triple-lock process.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-09