Tom Clonan (Independent)
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I am sorry to cut across Ms Ní Bhriain. My time is brief. On 29 May, the Department of Defence confirmed explicitly that the upper limit of 12 troops did not apply when Ireland required to send our troops on a rescue mission, for example, to evacuate Irish citizens from a foreign airport. It does not apply when we send troops, if we wish to, to provide assistance to our neighbours or partners with man-made or natural disasters, secondary to climate change and so on. The Department of Defence set out quite clearly that the upper limit of 12 bears no relationship whatsoever to our ability to deploy troops in those situations. Does Ms Ní Bhriain agree that the triple lock has no bearing whatsoever on our agility or capacity to respond as we see fit, as crises arise, on a case-by-case basis, and that it only applies to formally mandated international missions, which is an entirely different matter?

My last question has two parts. All the evidence we have heard here from Professor Ray Murphy, the professor of law who appeared here on 12 June, and from Mr. Conway who was here last week is that any future Government can send any number of Irish troops anywhere in the world by simple Dáil majority. Do the witnesses think that safeguards should be put in place to replace the triple lock in that context? Do the witnesses think that the Irish people - the citizens of this country - are ahead of the current Government with regard to how they feel about this and its implications for our perceived neutrality?