Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There has not been a peacekeeping mission approved by the Security Council of the United Nations since 2014. It is now 2024. The Security Council is paralysed. The idea that we would depend on Russia, China or the US to decide on whether Ireland should send troops to a peacekeeping mission, particularly given the role of like Russia, is completely outdated and absurd. That Russia would have a veto on whether Ireland would deploy troops to peace-keeping missions? That is where we are now. The world is changed. The Security Council is paralysed in how it may behave. Again, the Deputy has decided to equate the triple lock with neutrality. There is no question of changing our policy on military neutrality. We have been very clear on that. We are not joining any military alliance - we have no intention of that – and we are not part of any mutual defence pact. We do have to clarify the whole legislation in respect of having more than 12 people go to an evacuation zone, for example, to get our citizens out of a place like Afghanistan, Sudan or some other place where war breaks out, which is increasingly a feature of our need to intervene in given situations. We need far greater flexibility on that front.

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