Gerard Craughwell (Independent)

The US is engaging with the Israelis with a view to reviewing the UNIFIL operation. If the US, which pays 26% of the cost of all peacekeeping operations, decides that it will remove the mandate for UNIFIL, the Irish troops will be home the following day, that will be the end of the UNIFIL operation and they can then do whatever the hell they want in Gaza or anywhere else. Our troops will finish up having nowhere to go. I go back to Article 52, to which Professor Murphy referred. Article 52 allows people to engage in peacekeeping on a regional basis at regional request providing the principles and policies of the UN are observed. Again, I am agnostic on the triple lock.