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

It is very clear to anybody who examines the reality of this situation that the triple lock is simply about maintaining our role as peacekeepers. The issue of neutrality is completely different. We are not taking sides with anybody. We enforce the shadow fleet ourselves, by the way, with other countries. Operation Irini continues to do excellent work in accordance with international law. It is enforcing international law in the Mediterranean and doing really important humanitarian work.
The circumstances have changed dramatically. The mandate that I feel I have is the Fianna Fáil election manifesto. We had an election on that because things changed - all of this changed. There is no European Union defence union. There is no defence alliance at the European Union level. We cannot enter that. The people put that in the Constitution, and it cannot happen. It is very wrong to mix those things up. We cannot become part of a European common defence. There are no proposals for a European common defence. Our decision on the triple lock is simply about making our own decisions here in Ireland, in the Dáil, as to where our troops go. We make these decisions in the best interests of peace, the best interests of international law and the best interests of our military and its members. That is what this is about.
The Members opposite seek to ascribe a conspiracy to the Government about wars. We have heard it all. In relation to Deputy Paul Murphy’s comments, briseann an dúchas trí shúile an chait. Once Russia is mentioned, he gets all agitated.

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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