Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)

I echo the comments of everybody in thanking the witnesses for coming here to talk to us and give us some background on this proposed legislation. I have a number of questions that I will run through.

Does the term "triple lock" have any basis in law or is this some sort of vernacular language we have adopted? It would be very helpful to understand that, specifically in the context of what we are really talking about and what we are proposing to change.

Does the proposed legislation mention anything about joining any military, defence or security alliance? Do other countries require UN Security Council approval before they can deploy peacekeeping forces? What other countries have what we are debating here?

I would like some clarity from the witnesses. Perhaps they could summarise if they can. Numbers of individuals were mentioned by several people here, namely one member of the Defence Forces, 12 members of the Defence Forces and 50 members of the Defence Forces. What is the situation now in terms of sending one, 12 or 50 as opposed to if the proposed legislation is passed. What is required to send those numbers of people?

In the context of UN Security Council approval for peacekeeping missions in the past, I was looking at research in an attempt to get some numbers. Maybe the witnesses will clarify this, if not today then maybe at a future point. I found that between 1947 and 2014 - a period of 67 years - there were 73 peacekeeping missions approved by the Security Council but that since 2014, a period of 11 years, there have been zero missions. This clearly illustrates that it is no longer functioning for the purposes of deploying peacekeeping forces, potentially undermining peace in the world. That has brought us to the point where we cannot effectively continue to play our role as a country, aligning with those we want to align with and who share our values because, unfortunately, one part of that global organisation no longer fully shares our values or, certainly, a number of member states definitely do not share our values. Some clarity on the number of UN Security Council-approved peacekeeping missions over the years would be quite helpful for us in order that we might understand the position.