Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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I understand that. We are talking about the direction of travel in the EU, which I do not dispute, that Kaja Kallas and others want to bring EU nations towards. I have huge worries about that direction, the militarisation of Europe and Ireland being caught up in that. I have a massive concern about us simply removing the triple lock without at least examining other methods for a potential guardrail. The UN Security Council does not move particularly quickly. If we are going to give up to missions that are in line with the UN Charter, the United States and others would contest that the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 was in line with the UN Charter because the resolutions for the original Gulf War were violated. The UN Charter can be manipulated by whoever is promoting a particular action. I generally trust Irish politics and our political class to protect our peacekeepers and bring them to genuine peacekeeping missions. If the Security Council is paralysed, is there another channel? Mr. Murphy said hypothetically there could be through the UN General Assembly.