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

We had a debate this morning on our motion to defend the triple lock and will have a vote this evening. Is the Taoiseach still committed to scrapping, ending, modifying, getting rid of - whatever you want to call it - the current triple lock in the term of this Government, without a new democratic mandate and without going to the people to allow them to decide through an election or referendum? If he is, will he admit the idea the triple lock allows a veto of Security Council members is a red herring? That is not true. That is not what the triple lock does because the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006 is clear this is not just about peacekeeping missions authorised by the UN Security Council but also includes other peacekeeping missions, including regional peacekeeping missions, supported, approved or otherwise sanctioned by a resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Any mission that has majority support in the United Nations can be covered by the triple lock. This is actually about enabling future Governments to send troops abroad on missions that do not have the support of the majority of the United Nations - forget about the General Assembly and Security Council. In other words, these would be the sort of missions we have seen in the Middle East led by the US and NATO.

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