The removal of the Triple Lock would fatally weaken Irish neutrality and would inevitably lead to Ireland’s involvement in EU or NATO-inspired wars. No one should be in any doubt: removing the Triple Lock is part of a process of engaging Ireland in a Western imperialist alliance dominated by Von Der Leyen and Trump, in preparation for future wars.
The Triple Lock was introduced after the Irish people rejected the Nice Referendum in June 2001. In order to encourage us to vote again, ‘the right way’, a declaration was added to the Treaty guaranteeing that no more than 12 Irish soldiers could be sent into battle zones without the permission of the government, the Dáil, and the UN General Assembly.
In 2013, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that the Triple Lock was at the core of our neutrality and described the attempt to undermine it as 'an out-of-touch ideological obsession on the part of Fine Gael'. Fianna Fáil's 2020 general election manifesto stated Ireland will 'fully maintain neutrality and the Triple Lock ... Fianna Fáil reaffirms its commitment to the retention of the Triple Lock of UN mandate or authorisation, Government and Dáil approval, prior to committing Defence Forces personnel on overseas service.'
The Triple Lock is the only legal provision that meant that the Government, which clearly supported the US in its invasion of Iraq and facilitated the invasion of Iraq through its use of Shannon Airport, could not legally send ordinary Irish soldiers to go, to fight and to die in a war for oil and profit in the Middle East on behalf of the US.
The Government claims that the Triple Lock gives Russia and China a veto over Irish foreign policy. As permanent members of the UN Security Council alongside the US, Britain and France, they can veto UN peacekeeping resolutions, but in practice this almost never happens. Simon Coveney admitted in June 2022 when he was Minister for Defence that 'I cannot recall a time when the Triple Lock has prevented us from sending Irish Defence Forces personnel and peacekeepers to a part of the world where we believe they can make a positive contribution.'
Paul Murphy, People Before Profit TD said, ‘The Government must clarify what sort of missions the Government is considering sending troops on that they cannot currently. Previous Government indications that they will only send troops on missions within the framework of the UN Charter are not credible as that's already covered within the triple lock process.
'The real reason the Government wants to abolish the Triple Lock is that it wants to be free to send Irish troops to fight and die wherever the big Western powers see it as in their strategic interests - without any need for UN approval. For this they want to send young working-class men and women to fight and die in new colonial wars.
'Ireland currently has crippling housing, public service, and infrastructure crises. Instead of war-mongering and 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.
'It is critically important that the Government attempt to remove the Triple Lock is defeated. We may not have the numbers in the Dáil to do this, but working with political parties on the left, the trade unions and progressive civil society we can mobilise vast numbers in the streets to face the government down. People Before Profit public representatives and members will work tirelessly to this end.'