Mr. Stephen Kelly:

I will take a minute on this. With greatest respect to all present, politicians need to have a certain sense of perspective about why they are elected. People do not elect politicians because they think they are fantastic or the best people that could possibly represent them. They often elect them on the basis of a Hobson's choice. They do not elect politicians because they want them to have unlimited control over everything. They elect them as part of a constitutional framework of checks and balances. The triple lock is not in the Constitution, but it is part of a framework of checks and balances. We can take this tabloidesque view of it being "Putin's veto" or whatever. It is a framework, we would argue, of checks and balances that is necessary. One can always drill down into specifics and ask why a particular country in certain circumstances has a veto power over Irish troops. It is a framing-----