Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom cuidiú leis an rún agus tréaslaím leis na Daonlathaithe Sóisialta as an rún seo a chur os ár gcomhair. Tá Sinn Féin go hiomlán i bhfabhar an rúin agus i gcoinne leasú an Rialtais. Tá Sinn Féin den tuairim go bhfuil an Rialtas ag cur na neodrachta atá mar chuid lárnach dár bpolasaí eachtracha i mbaol agus go ndéanann sé laghdú ar an gcosaint atá air sin.

Sinn Féin is totally opposed to the end of the triple lock neutrality protection. That is what is at issue here, not reform, change or anything like that. Fundamentally, this debate is about removing the triple lock. It will be a matter for a Government that has a majority to make a decision to deploy troops. That is the reality of what the door is being opened to here. It will be within the gift of a Government that commands a majority to deploy Irish troops to missions and deployments of the type that we have never considered and which are completely contrary to decades of our foreign policy.

The Government has spoken a lot about the world changing. The world is changing; there is no doubt about that. We live in a very febrile and volatile world at this moment in time. It is not the time for rash actions that undermine our place in the world. The world is changing and we need to consider our place in this changing world. The Irish people have a very strong understanding of Ireland's place in the world. They understand that Ireland will never be a major military power, that we are a small country with an outsized influence. It should not be overstated or understated that we have an outsized influence in the world. We have achieved that in a number of ways. We have achieved it by the strength of our diplomatic team. I acknowledge the strong work that people in the Department of Foreign Affairs have done. It has also been achieved by the huge credibility of our peacekeepers, whom I commend for the work they have done. It was not helped by the underfunding of the Defence Forces over many years which has resulted in their withdrawal from the Golan Heights. They have built our credibility. We have the credibility that we enjoy because of our understanding of the impact of colonialism and imperialism across the world and our history as a colony under imperialism.

The reality is that the actions the Government proposes to take will undermine the credibility that we have. We will expose ourselves very significantly to potential pressure from other countries if we remove the triple lock protection. We have had comments from Ursula von der Leyen and the rearm Europe movement. We can see the direction in which things, including politics, are travelling. Given the climate that currently exists, it is not difficult to foresee a situation whereby an Irish Government would be put under pressure to increase its role in X mission or engage in Y mission. We are totally opposed to that.

The UN is not perfect by any manner or means. However, I take the point, which is important, that some of the arguments the Government made in terms of the Security Council are not correct or entirely accurate. Ultimately, as imperfect as it is, we have had the policy that Irish peacekeepers go on UN-mandated missions, not missions of whatever kind the Government is talking about.

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