Dr. Cathal Berry:

I thank the Deputy for his great question. It is very important to note a UN Security Council resolution is desirable - that is absolutely the case - but we must also live in reality. I will give a specific example. As I said in my opening statement, in eight weeks there may not be a UN mandate for the consent of the mission in Lebanon. Ireland will be the only country as part of the two contributing countries in that mission that would have to legally withdraw. For all the other countries it will be a political decision but for Ireland alone it will be a legal requirement. The other countries could stay under Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter but unfortunately, because of the triple lock, Ireland cannot. That would be a catastrophic event in the history of Irish peacekeeping. We would have no contingent overseas and the only reason this would occur is because of the triple lock.