Taoiseach warns against enshrining Irish neutrality in the Constitution

The Taoiseach argues a Constitutional guarantee of neutrality could restrict Ireland’s defence and peacekeeping capabilities, citing the triple lock

Micheál Martin defended Government plans to progress legislation abolishing the triple lock mechanism. File picture

The Taoiseach has cautioned against a Constitutional guarantee of Irish neutrality and repeated his contention that the triple lock gives Russia a say in the deployment of Irish peacekeeping troops.

Mr Martin spoke to the Irish Examiner in Cork at the unveiling of a plaque honoring Blarney Street native Brigadier General Stephen Moylan, the American Revolutionary War hero who first coined the phrase “the United States.”

Asked about an Irish Times/Ipsos poll showing 71% of respondents supported enshrining Irish neutrality in the Constitution, the Taoiseach said he would have “significant concerns” about such a move.

“First of all, you need to define neutrality,” he said.

“Then you need to define what are people suggesting we put into the Constitution. We have to be extremely careful about that. It’s all very well in opinion polls to put [something] down in one line.

“Irish people support military neutrality, and I support military neutrality, which means we’re not members of Nato, but we’ve been participants in common security and defence in Europe since [the union] began.” 

Mr Martin said he had serious concerns that a referendum could “straitjacket the Government democratically forever” in relation to the country’s security and defence capabilities.

“We do need to work with others to protect cables, we need to work with others to protect gas connectors with the United Kingdom, the energy connector with France, we have critical infrastructure undersea, and we just need to be very, very careful that we don’t go down a road that would actually restrict our capacity to do that, and also on cybersecurity.

“Those are the bigger challenges,” he said.

“There’s a lot of hot noise around military neutrality, but we won’t be fighting any war any time soon. I’ve been listening for 50 years, every time a European treaty would come up, ‘Oh will there be conscription into a European army?’ Of course it was all nonsense at the time, and it’s still nonsense, this idea of conscription into a European army.”

Mr Martin defended Government plans to progress legislation abolishing the triple lock mechanism, which bars the deployment of 12 or more troops abroad unless there is a UN mandate, government approval, and a Dáil resolution.

The proposed legislation would remove the need for a UN mandate for peacekeeping missions and increase the number of troops that can be deployed without a Dáil vote to 50.

Mr Martin said that when he visited Irish peacekeeping troops in Lebanon before Christmas, they asked about Ireland’s future role in peacekeeping, given that the UN Security Council had withdrawn the peacekeeping mandate from Lebanon.

Each of the five permanent members of the Security Council — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — has a veto on peacekeeping missions.

“Russia has invaded Ukraine,” Mr Martin said.

“It has violated the UN charter, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of young people have died as a result of that war, and we’re saying they should have a veto over whether we should get involved in peacekeeping?

“To me there’s no logic to that anymore.”