Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending. We are coming to the end of our pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill. With specific reference to the triple lock and its impact on neutrality, I want to summarise and ask the witnesses questions about it.

On 1 July, we had a number of very experienced military officers, some with a combined total of over 150 years of military service. In our questioning of them, it was confirmed absolutely and categorically that any missions assigned to Irish troops outside of the UN Security Council mandate were likely to be peace enforcement or war-fighting missions. The days of peacekeeping in the old sense of having the consent of all the belligerent parties are over in this new reality of a multipolar world with accelerating threats and hybrid threats. Our troops will be engaged in peace enforcement almost exclusively, which is war fighting. We gave the example of the UN mission to Korea, which turned into a full war with a land invasion and, more recently, the UN intervention in Afghanistan, which evolved into full-spectrum combat operations.

We also learned from the Department of Defence back in May that if the triple lock was removed and the legislation was enacted as drafted, Irish troops could have been sent to invade Iraq back in 2003. The Department of Defence also confirmed that if this legislation was enacted as written, Irish troops could be sent to join any coalition of the willing of troops in a future environment. Finally, to frame my question, it was also confirmed here by my former colleagues and fellow veterans that such is the number of troops Ireland can deploy meaningfully - which is battalion-minus or, in fact, just north of a company - that Irish troops sent into these peace enforcement or war-fighting scenarios will inevitably come under direct command of foreign higher formations.

In light of those findings that have been made very clear to the committee, do the witnesses think that this - it is not an amendment of the triple lock, but its removal - will fundamentally change the nature of Ireland's military service overseas and how we are perceived in the world? Does that have an impact on our neutrality?