Dáil vote passed 79 to 71 to remove the Triple Lock mechanism.
THE GOVERNMENT have passed legislation to remove the triple lock amendment.
Dáil Éireann convened on October 21 to debate legislation which would amend the triple lock mechanism. The decision was passed after 79 TDs agreed with the change, while 71 opposed it.
Minister for Defence, Helen McEntee, opened the debate by stating that in recent months, Russia has attacked various EU member states. She claimed that the current law allows Russia a say in where Ireland can send its peacekeepers, through its role on the UN Security Council.
14 other EU member states have similar requirements around parliamentary decisions before sending troops abroad, but Ireland is the only country which requires UN approval for deployment.
Minister McEntee said that any permanent member of the UN Security Council could veto Ireland’s contribution to international missions, as any deployment of an Irish soldier overseas required permission. She explained, “No other country in the world allows another country or a superpower to decide for them.”
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the government of facilitating sending Irish troops into military operations without UN approval. She added that there has been no moral authority from the government to overturn previous commitments and that their dishonesty repeated her call to put the question to the people in a referendum.
Shortly after the results were announced yesterday, Deputy McDonald also called for a referendum, saying that the outcome is a “fundamental change to Ireland’s neutrality.”
The same opinion was shared by Social Democrats TD, Rory Hearne, who said that this bill was a “complete betrayal of the people’s desire for Ireland to remain a neutral country.”
Chair of the Oireachtas Defence and National Security Committee, Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Féin), told the Dáil that Irish people are deeply engaged with this vote.
She claimed that “the vast majority are requesting their public representatives to vote against this Bill and that is why Sinn Féin will vote against it.” Deputy Walsh added that the vote should have been done through a referendum.
“Pushing a massive change through without proper public debate is completely unacceptable,” she said.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy accused Taoiseach Micheál Martin of “abolishing” the Triple Lock instead of “reforming” it.
“Do you think people have no memory at all?,” he asked, referencing the “over 100,000 people” who marched against Iraq in 2003.
“They agreed to allow US troops to use Shannon Airport on their way to this adventure – an adventure that killed hundreds of thousands of people.”
The Taoiseach stated, “It would be for the government or the Dáil in terms of deciding what peacekeeping missions we would become involved in.”
“We’re very good at the peacekeeping… that’s all we want to continue.”
Fianna Fáil TDs John McGuinness and Limerick’s, Willie O’Dea, did not vote on the legislation.