Yesterday the Oireachtas committee on Defence and National Security published its report on Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 that, if enacted, will end the triple lock.
People Before Profit Councillor Conor Reddy said “With the publication of the report on Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 the government has moved another step closer to ending the triple lock. It has already been reported this morning that the government intends to push ahead with its plans to end the triple lock when the Dáil returns after the summer recess”.
“In May the Assistant Secretary in the Department of Defence confirmed to People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy that the Irish government could have sent Irish troops to participate in the invasion of Iraq if the triple lock didn't exist at that time. She also confirmed that the Government's Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 will allow Irish troops to be sent anywhere in the world, including as part of NATO missions that do not have UN approval, and to participate in full combat operations rather than peacekeeping missions. The Triple Lock is the only legal mechanism that prevents Irish troops being sent on imperialist military interventions. There's no doubt that the government of the day would have sent Irish troops to participate in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq if the triple lock had not been in place to make it legally impossible”.
“Public meetings about how to defend our neutrality have been taking place all over the country in recent months. People are coming together to build campaigns to defend the triple lock. It is critically important that the government’s attempt to remove the triple lock is defeated so we can prevent Irish troops being dragged into Trump’s, Von Der Leyen’s and Starmer’s wars. The grass roots campaigns will escalate to oppose the government’s plan to empty our neutrality of any remaining meaning as the defining moment approaches in the autumn”.
“Ireland has crippling housing, infrastructure and public services crises. Instead of spending vast sums on militarisation, we need to defend what is left of Irish neutrality and focus our resources on building the homes, the infrastructure and the public services that we desperately need. We need homes, not bombs”.