Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputies Gibney and Ó Laoghaire for raising this important question. I accept we approach this from very different points of view. I do not doubt the Deputies' bona fides on this and ask that they do not doubt mine. I value military neutrality. I am not proposing Ireland joins any military alliances; I am proposing that the triple lock in its current form poses challenges and should change. We will have an opportunity to tease through legislation and vote accordingly. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this question. I know the questions are grouped but Question No. 155 refers to the roles of the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

Since 1958, Ireland has contributed to a range of UN missions across the world. I recently had the honour to visit our troops stationed in Lebanon and saw first-hand the vital role they are playing with UNIFIL, where many thousands of Irish soldiers have been deployed over a number of decades. The UN Charter unequivocally sets out the primacy of the UN Security Council with regard to all matters relating to international peace and security. In practice, peacekeeping missions are only ever deployed on the basis of mandates from the UN Security Council. Under the charter, it is the Security Council alone that holds the power to take decisions that member states are obligated to implement. The UN General Assembly cannot compel a peacekeeping operation. That remains the province of the Security Council. In certain instances, where a matter has been considered by the Security Council and has been the subject of a veto, the General Assembly may consider the matter and make a recommendation to UN members for collective action. The term "recommendation" is key here, however, with a recommendation being devoid of any binding legal force.

UN General Assembly resolutions cannot compel action, therefore. Only once in history has the UN General Assembly invoked the "uniting for peace" resolution and recommended a peacekeeping operation. This happened nearly 70 years ago, when it established the first UN emergency force in the Middle East in 1956, which proceeded with the consent of the parties involved. I have a lot more to say on this but we will have to go back and forth.

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