John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)

Many believe the triple lock has provided a clear reassurance to the Irish people that our participation overseas is grounded in neutrality and a UN mandate. However, in an ever-increasingly precarious and uncertain world, we should not find ourselves in a position where the likes of peacekeeping missions by Irish troops could be vetoed by UN member states.

There has been mention of Ukraine and in practical terms when a ceasefire and peace agreement is eventually reached there, hopefully sooner rather than later, we should not be at the mercy of countries that have built reputations on vetoes at the UN Security Council and essentially prevented deployment of Irish troops on such peacekeeping missions. Domestically, it is important that this legislation ensures that future overseas deployments continue to have broad political legitimacy and I ask for that reassurance today.

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