Taoiseach accused of 'obsession' with changing Ireland's triple lock neutrality system

People Before Profit's Paul Murphy: 'Micheál Martin was telling the truth in 2013 when he said the triple lock is at the very core of our neutrality'

Paul Murphy TD: '[The Taoiseach] described the attempts to get rid of the triple lock as an out-of-touch ideological obsession by Fine Gael: That is an obsession that has now been taken on with gusto by Micheál Martin.' Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

The Taoiseach has been accused of "an obsession" with changing Ireland's triple lock neutrality system.

Currently, the triple lock mechanism only allows deployment where there is a UN mandate either from the Security Council or General Assembly, Government approval, and a Dáil resolution.

Last year, the previous government began the process of changing that system with the programme for government committing to "reform" of the system while "ensuring that amendments to the legislation are in keeping with our values and policy of active military neutrality".

At Leinster House on Tuesday, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy quoted Micheál Martin's contribution to a 2013 debate where he said the triple lock was "at the core of our neutrality".

Mr Martin went on to say that there had been "efforts of a wing of Fine Gael to erode neutrality over the years".

However, Mr Murphy said that Mr Martin had now picked up those efforts.

"The Government attempt to paint this up and say this is not about neutrality, this is about something else entirely. It's about not giving countries a veto on how we act, and actually we're in favour of neutrality. That is not the truth,” Mr Murphy said.

Micheál Martin was telling the truth in 2013 when he said the triple lock is at the very core of our neutrality; when he described the attempts to get rid of the triple lock as an out-of-touch ideological obsession by Fine Gael: That is an obsession that has now been taken on with gusto by Micheál Martin. 

"He's now even more obsessed about it than Fine Gael is. He absolutely is, about dismantling what is left of our triple lock, of our neutrality."

Speaking to the Irish Examiner at the weekend, Mr Martin said that defence spending would have to increase and that he will establish a new Oireachtas committee on security and defence as there is a “need to create debate” on Ireland’s role within Europe and our ability to protect ourselves from cyber, energy, and maritime security threats.

“Whether we like it or not, Ireland can’t stop countries who feel an existential threat from doing what they have to do to protect themselves,” he said.

Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney said that while the party supports more resourcing for the Defence Forces, it does not agree with a major shift in policy.

"We absolutely recognise that the military needs more investment to be functional,” Ms Gibney said.

It actually compromises our neutrality if we don't have a functioning peacekeeping force here. So we need to have boats back in the water. 

“We need to fix areas like cybersecurity and so on. Absolutely we need to invest, and the recruitment and retention crisis that we currently have in our military all need to be fixed with additional resources. But I don't believe that we need to go beyond [the recommendations in the White Paper on Defence]."

Roger Cole of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance said that while more money should be spent better resourcing the Defence Forces, there is "no evidence that anyone wants to invade Ireland".

"We have a good small army that can help and support UN missions: 6,000 is a good size of an army to do what it is tasked with.”