Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Last night, the Green Party held the casting votes on whether to hold a referendum to enshrine neutrality in the Irish Constitution. Shamefully, its members voted with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to block that referendum. In doing so, they voted against the long-standing position of the Green Party and the position for which the Minister voted in 2003, 2016 and 2018.

Later that evening, it emerged that the Tánaiste, and future Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, had told the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party that Ireland should drop the so-called triple lock and participate in European defence co-operation, that is, European militarisation. That is contrary not only to Green Party policy, about which the Minister seems not to care at all, but even to what is in the programme for Government. Where is the Minister going to draw the line? Will he be opposing the dropping of the triple lock mechanism or will he be going along with this process of militarisation?

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