Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Government's stated intention to legislate to remove the triple lock and the protection it affords the members of our Defence Forces beggars belief. Since 1958, Ireland's Defence Forces have proudly fulfilled a peacekeeping role. They have had a proud, unbroken peacekeeping service record, from the Congo to Kosovo to Mali and elsewhere. At present, Defence Forces personnel are serving with UNIFIL in Lebanon and UNDOF in the Golan Heights. All members of the Defence Forces were committed and proud to serve as peacekeepers, backed by the Irish people and, crucially, a United Nations mandate. However, the Minister of State and the Government seem hell-bent on tearing up that proud peacekeeping record, upending Irish neutrality and turning our peacekeepers into conflict participants. Without the UN peacekeeping mandate, God alone knows where our troops could end up. Perhaps the Minister of State could enlighten us. Perhaps the Tánaiste, if he was here, would enlighten us.

Our neutrality is our strength. That is recognised the world over. The triple lock is at the core of this, and any attempt to undermine or change the triple lock must be strongly resisted. In fact, the Minister of State might benefit from some mature recollection at this point. When in opposition, the Tánaiste stated that the triple lock was a necessity. What changed his mind in the meantime? Maybe the Minister of State could tell us that. It is blindingly obvious that not only has this Government abandoned our neutrality, it has effectively abandoned our Defence Forces. Chronic underinvestment has meant that they are underfunded, under-resourced and definitely underpaid. It is time to call a halt on the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil agenda to undermine our Defence Forces and our neutrality. It is time for a Sinn Féin Government that will properly fund our Defence Forces in order that they can continue our proud peacekeeping participation record and other vital protective duties on behalf of the Irish people.

I call on this House to reject the Government's shameful attempts to undermine Ireland's neutrality, to keep our peacekeepers as peacekeepers and to fully support Sinn Féin's motion to properly fund and resource our Defence Forces.

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