Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On the same theme, the Tánaiste said Ireland faces security and defence challenges. He went on to list instances in which it could have been possible that a veto would be used to stop us participating in some kind of peacekeeping. According to the triple lock we participate in peacekeeping with the endorsement of the UN. I honestly think he scraped the bottom of the barrel when he said that in 2022 in relation to a UN mandate in Bosnia-Herzegovina we nearly did not get what we wanted at the UN. We got it because we were able to negotiate it. Then he spoke about a narcotics operation at sea in 2017 and the peacekeeping mission in the Mediterranean. The Tánaiste is really scraping the barrel. He said there has been no obstacle to us participating in peacekeeping since 2014. Why is he taking the method that we brought into existence because people would not vote in a treaty that did not contain guarantee over our neutrality? They got that guarantee through the triple lock and now without asking people what they think, he wants to dismiss it all on the basis of very flimsy responses to the House about the why. The why is what we need to know, along with the where and the how with regard to why the Tánaiste thinks it will be necessary to remove the triple lock. Therefore, where would we send our troops and to do what, when, how and why? The Tánaiste needs to come up with better answers than he has given us.

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