Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

I want to start with neutrality. Senator Craughwell touched on it already and the Chair mentioned something along these lines at the outset about the number of emails members are getting on the triple lock. People are talking about neutrality and how this will destroy our neutrality and that we no longer will be a neutral country. I also get a lot of emails on Gaza, rightly so, and Ukraine, possibly sometimes from the same people.

What does it mean to be neutral? Do we know that? In what way are we neutral? Is it contradictory to state that we are taking away neutrality with this but at the same time we should not be neutral on other conflicts around the world? If the triple lock is removed, will Ireland no longer be a neutral country? Do we even know what it means when we say Ireland is a neutral country at the moment? Can Ms Maguire provide examples over the past 11 years where we have been prevented from sending peacekeepers because of the triple lock and the veto within the Security Council? Are there certain conflict areas around the world that we would like to send peacekeepers, but we know there is no point even attempting because of the veto?

Earlier she mentioned that we would be governed or guided by principles within the Treaty on European Union possibly around the rule of law, democracy, etc. Can she expand on those and what their role would be in the event that this legislation is passed? The argument was made earlier - it is the extreme in this debate - that a simple Dáil majority could send any number of Irish troops anywhere in the world at any point in time. I believe that argument comes with the contention it would be unacceptable. Does the logic not follow from this that we should retain the triple lock? This logic suggests it is a bad thing to trust our politicians in this country, regardless of whether there is any precedent about trusting them when it comes to peacekeeping. It also suggests that we should instead allow our country to continue to be hamstrung when it comes to peacekeeping missions by the likes of Putin, Trump or Xi Jinping.