Military Neutrality
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-09
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Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East

I am going to answer this question on behalf of the Minister. I propose to take Questions Nos. 120 and 122 together. As the Minister has already outlined, this legislation is a key priority for the Government. The commitment to undertake this necessary reform of the triple lock is set out in the programme for Government. The triple lock is a statutory mechanism. It is established under statute and is not a constitutional mechanism. Any change does not require a referendum.
The Deputy has criticised NATO leadership of missions. He completely ignores the fact that our troops have been under NATO command in Kosovo for the last 25 years where they are on a NATO-led mission that has a UN mandate. The Deputy says that we are going to participate in missions in breach of international law. The exact opposite is the case. Everything that we do has to be in accordance with international law, the United Nations principles and our Constitution, which sets our very clearly that this is a peaceful country and that we want friendly relations with people. We are a country that does this.
The truth is that if the triple lock continues, there will be no more peacekeeping. That is the reality because the UN has not mandated any new missions. The Minister has already given the example of Operation Irini. That is a really important mission. Irish troops left that mission on Monday of last week. That mission continues in accordance with UN law, international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Our people had to come home, however. The impact is not just on the mission. They had to come home. They did.

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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