Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I had intended to raise with the Taoiseach the issue of extending the franchise for the presidential elections because the Government has dragged its heels on that matter which is most unfortunate.

I want to return to the issue of neutrality because we need to nail this nonsense the Government is trying to peddle that somehow removing the need for a UN mandate is a minor modification of the triple lock neutrality protection and the policy of the State; it is nothing of the sort. That proposal is to fundamentally undermine and change the policy of military neutrality. As I said earlier, the Government does not have the democratic mandate to do that. It may have the numbers in here but it has not put that proposition to the people in a general election campaign or by any other method. If the Government believes this is a good idea and a worthy move, it needs to go back to the people and get their democratic sanction by means of a referendum. Anything less than that will have long-term consequences that have no purchase and no widespread public support. No amount of rhetoric or fancy footwork on the Government's part can alter that fact. The removal of the need for a UN mandate is a fundamental undermining, destruction in fact, of the Irish policy of military neutrality. That is the fact of the matter.

See this speech in context