The letter addressed to Mícheál Martin reads: “Considering that a recent opinion poll showed that 75 percent of Ireland’s population favours maintaining Ireland’s current policy of neutrality, it would appear that your Government has no mandate to revoke the Triple Lock.”
“The Triple Lock is a central component of Ireland’s neutral position because it essentially stands as a bulwark against deploying Irish troops unless there is a UN mandate to do so. In other words, the Triple Lock guarantees that troop deployment may only take place under the auspices of the UN system, as a guarantor of international peace and security. Removing the Triple Lock may sound the death knell on Irish neutrality.”
Yesterday, the Triple Lock mechanism was approved to be reformed in a bill by the coalition government. The Triple Lock ensures that Irish peacekeeping forces abroad require the approval of the United Nations (UN), the Cabinet and the Dáil for certain troop deployments. The draft proposals will see up to 50 troops deployed on overseas peacekeeping missions without Dáil resolution.
The letter goes on to argue: “In other words, if a peacekeeping mission was vetoed by a permanent member, and it was to attempt to deploy anyway, there is little likelihood that it would actually be able to keep the peace.”
On RTÉ News Minister Simon Harris said: “But the idea that any permanent member of the security council can have a veto, including Vladimir Putin, on where our defence forces go is not democratic.” Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
“If Ireland acts outside the remit of the UN Charter and deploys troops on EU or
NATO missions, it may quickly find itself in direct conflict with the world’s most powerful armies, some of which have nuclear warheads at their disposal. For us, it seems clear that the benefits of operating within the UN system far outweigh the risks associated with operating outside it.”
The letter further argues that Ireland removing the Triple Lock mechanism is coming at a time when the country aims to increase military spending, and could be a sign of increased militarisation of the country.
During Parliamentary questions on July 2nd 2024, Mícheál Martin, then the Minister for Foreign Affairs, described the reasoning behind amending the Triple Lock: “Any modification to the triple lock will continue to require Government and Dáil approval for the dispatch of Defence Forces personnel to take part in peacekeeping and similar missions and will do nothing to change Ireland’s traditional position of military neutrality, which is characterised by Ireland’s non-participation in any military alliance.”
“There has not been a peacekeeping mission approved by the Security Council of the United Nations since 2014 […] The Security Council is paralysed. The idea that we would depend on Russia, China or the US to decide on whether Ireland should send troops to a peacekeeping mission, particularly given the role of like Russia, is completely outdated and absurd.”
The Labour Party, Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats have opposed this move.
54 Trinity staff and researchers have signed the letter.
