Defence and Neutrality: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Brian Stanley (IND), Laois

I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— Irish Neutrality has been central to the sovereignty and independence of the State, that it was first enunciated by Theobald Wolfe Tone and upheld by successive generations;
— despite being a small country, our neutrality has enabled Ireland to play a positive role in international affairs;
— the Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1960 encompassed neutrality and the requirement known as the "Triple Lock" which means that deployment of Defence Force overseas requires the authorisation of the United Nations (UN), Government and the Dáil;
— the Triple Lock is central to the policy of neutrality;
— the failure of the first referendums to have the Nice and Lisbon Treaties passed was due to concerns by the electorate on neutrality;
— to assuage those concerns, the Triple Lock and Neutrality were enshrined in solemn National Declarations that were attached to both treaties;
— the two treaties were only endorsed by the electorate in second referendums due to these solemn national declarations and guarantees included in them;
— any move by Government to overturn these commitments without a referendum would be a denial of democracy;
— successive opinion polls have demonstrated that the majority of the electorate want our policy of neutrality retained;
— being neutral does not in any way inhibit increasing the capacity and capabilities of the Defence Forces; and
— currently there is no upper limit on the number of Defence Force personnel that can be deployed for the purpose of overseas humanitarian issues;
calls on the Government to:
— uphold the policy of Neutrality and the Triple Lock as set out in the Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1960 and the solemn national declarations attached to the Nice and Lisbon Treaties;
— recognise that these commitments regarding the Triple Lock and Neutrality can only be changed or amended by a majority of the electorate in a referendum;
— recognise that the triple lock and neutrality are intrinsically linked;
— strengthen the States policy of Neutrality by bringing forward a referendum to enshrine neutrality in the constitution;
— work with other neutral and non-aligned countries to reform and re-establish the primacy of the UN as the forum to uphold international law and for resolving international disputes and conflicts;
— abide by the principal of multilateralism and not allow the State to be become part of any regional military alliance; and
— halt plans to progress the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 and the provisions in it to abolish the Triple Lock and Neutrality.
Where is the Minister for Defence?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-20