Michael D Higgins warns Ireland is ‘sliding’ into military alliances over triple lock

"I would say now because I've had so much time to think about it, I think that it's less than honest not to give the full story when you're talking about going into preparatory alliances, and I really do feel that because I dealt with senior army people in my 15 years as president.

"In fact, actually, what you're having, and critics are right in saying it, is that people are sliding into things rather than choosing to decide to go into things."

In a wide-ranging interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Higgins:

• Lambasted former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who now sits on the Gaza Board of Peace, claiming he "never lifted a finger that would favour a single Palestinian";
• Accused political leaders of not only "choosing to ignore" climate change but of moving to "actually expand on what's destroying" the planet;
• Warned that artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies are now a threat to democracy;
• Claimed he "paid a high price" for criticising Benjamin Netanyahu's actions in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank, pointing to a certain level of "propaganda".

Mr Higgins's comments on the triple lock come after a heated debate in the Dáil this week during which members of the opposition called for a referendum on the proposed changes.

"A person speaking about the promise and prospects of peace would find it very hard to get a space now," he said.

"I think without a doubt that is very much what we talk about, [his wife] Sabina and I, is the rather short period of time in which the discourse became entirely militarised.

Speaking during the Dáil debate this week, foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee argued that currently the five members of the UN Security Council — France, the UK, China, the US and Russia — decide and have a role in where we take part and how we contribute to certain international missions. 

The Government contends that removing the triple lock will allow for continued deployment of Irish peacekeepers.

But Mr Higgins said there has been a "totally insufficient attempt" at reforming the UN and addressing "the abusive position in the Security Council".

Mr Higgins also questioned the types of deployments Ireland might become involved in without the triple lock: "Are we going to wait for the European Union to tell us where to go to become active for peace?

"The evidence is that the European Union is not in favour of that kind of peace."

He added: "I think that many times people looking at interviews wonder what's the difference between the secretary general of Nato and the President of the European Commission, it's kind of a competition in trying to sound fierce."