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

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: notes that:

— the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin TD said in 2013 that the triple lock was at the core of our neutrality and described the attempt to undermine it as "an out-of-touch ideological obsession on the part of Fine Gael";

— Fianna Fáil's 2020 general election manifesto states that Ireland will "Fully maintain neutrality and the Triple Lock ... Fianna Fáil reaffirms its commitment to the retention of the triple lock of UN mandate or authorisation, Government and Dáil approval, prior to committing Defence Forces personnel on overseas service", and it concludes "We will fully maintain neutrality and the triple lock mechanism";

— the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future states the Government will "ensure that all overseas operations will be conducted in line with our position of military neutrality and will be subject to a triple lock of UN, Government and Dáil Éireann approval";

— in April 2022, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Simon Coveney TD, said about a possible change to the triple lock "I have yet to see an example of where Ireland has been prevented from sending troops to a part of the world where it wants to make a peace-keeping intervention in the Mediterranean, Mali or elsewhere";

— in November 2022, Minister Eamon Ryan said "I think the current system supports our country well. I think our position as a neutral country in the world actually gives us greater strength. I think the triple lock doesn't stop us engaging where we do have to engage";

— none of the Government parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or the Green Party, campaigned at the last General Election to end neutrality or the triple lock, and therefore they have no mandate for any such policies;

— the Government continues to edge us closer to a military alliance and European Union (EU) militarisation project that includes NATO, the United States (US), Germany and Britain, the countries that are arming a genocide in Gaza and which continue to sustain Israel's ability to commit the most horrific crimes;

— the National Consultative Forum on International Security Policy was designed to manipulate public opinion towards further undermining Irish neutrality by moving us closer to NATO;

— a large majority of the public continues to support neutrality despite intense pressure from establishment politicians to support militarisation;

— some Western political leaders are promoting militarisation and preparations for war, with the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, having claimed that we are in a pre-war era, Admiral Rob Bauer, Chair of the NATO Military Committee, said "We are preparing for war with Russia" and the French President, Emmanuel Macron believes that NATO should be sending troops into Ukraine;

— global military spending is increasing rapidly, and according to NATO its members increased military spending sharply in 2023 to $1.34 trillion and 11 NATO members now spend 2 per cent or more of their GDP on their military, also, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Europe increased military spending by 16 per cent in 2023 to €552 billion and NATO countries accounted for 55 per cent of global military spending in 2023, far out-spending any other nation or bloc in the world; and

— this military spending means vast numbers of badly needed homes, schools and hospitals are foregone to fund warfare;

further notes that:

— Ireland's declaration to the Treaty of Nice, submitted as part of ratifying it, states that "the participation of contingents of the Irish Defence Forces in overseas operations, including those carried out under the European security and defence policy, requires (a) the authorisation of the operation by the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations, (b) the agreement of the Irish Government and (c) the approval of Dáil Éireann, in accordance with Irish law";

— the triple lock is the only legal provision that meant that a government that effectively supported the US in its invasion of Iraq, by facilitating the invasion of Iraq through its use of Shannon Airport, could not legally send ordinary Irish soldiers to go, fight and die in a war for oil and profit in the Middle East on behalf of the US;

— prevented by the triple lock from participating in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Fianna Fáil instead allowed US warplanes to refuel at Shannon and started a process whereby Shannon became a de facto forward operating base for the US military, so that more than 3 million troops have passed through Shannon over the past 21 years;

— under the United Nations (UN) Charter, there are two legal ways the Government can send troops abroad;

— self-defence, which is provided for under Bunreacht na hÉireann and in which situation there is no need for the triple lock to be activated; and

— peacekeeping authorised by the UN Security Council, therefore anything within the UN Charter comes within the triple lock; and

— if the triple lock is removed, it will be EU-led missions without UN approval, that is, outside of international law, and US or NATO-led missions, opening the prospects of Ireland's participation in such disastrous wars as those in Iraq and Afghanistan; and

calls on the Government to:

— withdraw plans for legislation to end the triple lock;

— commit to a referendum on enshrining neutrality in the Constitution; and

— end the use of Shannon Airport by the US military.

There is a dark open secret at the heart of the political establishment in this country. The Tánaiste is embarrassed by the very idea of Irish neutrality. When the Taoiseach trots off to Washington every St. Patrick's Day to give shamrock to the US President, he dreads being asked why he is not doing more to support the American project and American freedom. The Tánaiste has a problem. The vast majority of Irish people want to keep neutrality so he has to try to manoeuvre around this sentiment. His latest move is to try to remove the triple lock so that he is free to send Irish troops, although not his own sons and daughters, to war at the beck and call of the US and the European Union. He has tried to prepare for this move. He even set up a commission chaired by a dame of the British empire. However, that move has backfired on him.

The Tánaiste only talks about military neutrality. He insists on inserting the word "military" before the word "neutrality". There is a reason for this. He wants to ignore how the Irish people think of neutrality and to gut the word of its real meaning. For the majority of Irish people, neutrality arises from our experience of colonialism. It is linked to an anticolonial sentiment. That is why we instinctively know which side we are on in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. We do not want to support any empire. We know that behind the sweet talk of defending small nations lies a brutal arrogance. Do not tell me we have the left the world of empires and that history has left it behind. There are still colonies left, Palestine being one of them. There is a hierarchy in this world and it is based on military and economic power. That hierarchy is called imperialism.

The US Administration does not come to Dublin bearing gifts. We go to Washington to show our loyalty and support, or at least the Tánaiste and Taoiseach do. It made us laugh when the Tánaiste today claimed that he belongs to the western empire because it talks of freedom and democracy. Where is the freedom and democracy for the Palestinians? Where are women's rights in Saudi Arabia, which the Tánaiste's patron, the US, describes as its ally in the Middle East? Does he really think that in simply recognising the State of Palestine, as the Government did yesterday, he has done his duty in the face of genocide? Does he not know that 140 countries had taken this step long before Ireland and that even this step was forced on the Government by the tens of thousands who marched week after week? The plain reality is that the US empire does not stand for freedom and democracy. If it did, it would not be supplying Israel with bombs to murder and burn Palestinian children.

The Dáil recognises Palestine. Why then are we all using Hewlett-Packard machines in our offices? This is a company that supplies infrastructure that is vital for Israel's occupation. We say that we should boycott it. There is also AXA. No State agency should have a contract with a company that invests in Israeli banks and mining companies in the West Bank. We say that we should boycott it. As I asked yesterday, why is the Government fast-tracking visas for 100 Israeli engineers to fly here to work for Intel while, in the meantime, Palestinians who are fleeing genocide are left to sleep in tents on the banks of the canal? Why is the State supporting this? Intel is a strong supporter of the Israeli state. It has built its Kiryat Gat plant on the site of two erased Palestinian villages. Just weeks after Israel intensified its genocide against the Palestinians, Intel announced its largest ever investment in Israel worth $22.6 billion. I say we should boycott Intel. Why did the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment grant 32 licences to sell dual-use goods worth €70.4 million into Israel under the Control of Exports Act 2008? Why will the Government not name these companies?

We need to back up the recognition of Palestine with real sanctions. The Tánaiste should not just tell us that EU leaders are discussing sanctions. That means nothing. We are now seven months into this horrific conflict and EU leaders have done nothing. The plain reality is that the Tánaiste wants to remove the triple lock because he wants us to move from a sideline substitute in US imperialism to a full player. That is what he wants. He wants to send Irish troops abroad to fight wars on behalf of the US and the European Union.

Despite repeated requests from us to do so, however, the Tánaiste has refused to say exactly where he wants to send more than 12 Irish troops. He has asked his civil servants to come up with some obscure examples of where the triple lock has stopped him sending Irish troops. He needs to have the courage of his convictions and tell us where he wants to send the sons and daughters of working-class people to fight in wars for the benefit of western imperialism. He will not give us a referendum to testify that Irish people still want to keep their neutrality, which is the least he can do. He knows as well as I do that the chair of the NATO military committee has said we are preparing for war. He knows that the Polish Prime Minister has said we are in a pre-war situation. The Irish Times, in its own snooty way, recently declared that Ireland is at war but we are sticking our heads in the sand. I ask the Tánaiste to tell us where he wants to send Irish troops.

For our part, we are absolutely clear. We oppose both imperialist powers that seek to divide the world into their respective spheres of influence. I am openly opposed to the US empire and equally opposed to its Russian and Chinese rivals. I have been at many protests outside the US Embassy. My party was the first to organise protests outside the Russian Embassy over the brutal invasion of Ukraine. While I detest both imperialist powers, I have no time for the double standards of this Government. It took it seven months before it dared to raise the Palestinian flag at this House. It raised the Ukrainian flag immediately when it was invaded, and it is still flying here. Ukraine is right to oppose the Russian invasion but it is not the only country fighting imperialism. Why is the Government not denouncing the EU for not banning arms sales to Israel when it sanctioned Russia immediately after the invasion of Ukraine? Why are Fine Gael members of this coalition promising to vote for Ursula von der Leyen even though she has most brazenly backed Israel to the hilt? The Government's other way of getting around neutrality is to erode it bit by bit. It has allowed US troops to use Shannon Airport as a transit point, pretending this is just an economic arrangement when, in reality, it is a deliberate show of loyalty to the US empire. Now, the Government wants to send Irish troops to train Ukrainian soldiers. It sends helmets to its army and still pretends it is militarily neutral. We are sick of the Government's hypocrisy.

I make one call in the Dáil today, and the same call is being made in the Seanad. It is to stop US troops using Shannon Airport. Genocide Joe is totally complicit in the murder of Palestinians. We want to see a left government that really changes that. I say to my colleagues in Sinn Féin that we know Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will keep US troops in Shannon for as long as they can. Therefore, let us work together to evict Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. This is a commitment we want to make before there is any general election - US troops out a Shannon at a very minimum.

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