Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Social Democrats on bringing forward this important motion. It is a motion at the heart of everything we do, and indeed is something the people feel extremely strongly about. Irish neutrality is at the core of everything we do and is the core of our democracy. This attempt to try to get rid of the triple lock and our neutrality has been a long time coming. I experienced it in the last Dáil, and now again in this one. The idea that a Government would try to get rid of the triple lock without putting it to a referendum is in my opinion absolutely appalling. This State has continuously punched above its weight on international affairs and on an international stage. The reason we have been able to do that is because of our unique history and our neutrality. We have always been seen as honest brokers in former colonies in the global south because of our neutrality, and indeed because of our experience of colonialism. However, for some reason, this and the previous Government, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, seem bent on getting rid of this. People are horrified that the Government has failed to defend our neutrality on an international scale. People are horrified to see continued reporting by The Ditch that munitions destined for Israel are going through our airspace. This is something that the Minister of State, his Government and every Minister in the Government need to get to the bottom of and need to stop. We want to have no hand, act or part, and no complicity in a genocide that is ongoing in Gaza.

However, on this important issue it is time for the people in this State to decide. It is time to put this to a referendum.

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