Big parties would pick the triple-lock

THE Connacht/Ulster MEP Seán Ó Neachtain (Letters, February 2) states that our neutrality will be secured by a triple-lock system, including a specific UN resolution which then must be approved by the Government and the Dáil before Irish troops can engage in peacekeeping activities abroad.

Would this be the same Government that insists our airports have not been used to ferry torture victims around the world, and would it be the same Dáil opposition (main parties) that remained largely silent while these deliberate breaches of our neutrality and other people’s human rights were taking place?

If the Government and main opposition parties are so disposed to ignoring or replacing our long-held policy of neutrality, they are hardly going to oppose a specific UN resolution calling for Irish troops to join the force which Gerry Adams warns against.

And doesn’t it follow that if we were ever to have a referendum on our neutrality, the Government and main opposition parties would be promoting its abolition, and if that ever happens, who would get to decide if a so-called military mission is a peacekeeping one?

Cllr Kieran McCarthy

89 Russell Heights

Cobh

Co Cork