Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I have spoken about this before. If we lead and if we get engaged in militarisation, we will be losing our credibility around peace. Ireland has such a profound role to play as a leader in peace, whether that is in Gaza or in Ukraine or whatever conflict we do not know is coming. We have had comments from Ministers - not in this Government but in the previous Government - that the triple lock is critical and essential to neutrality. We heard from Senator Murphy, and I am happy for us to have an open and meaningful discussion. Perhaps the committees will be the stage where we have the opportunity to do it and flesh it out outside of the space of the Chamber.

I want to underscore that armies and military spending lead to war. They do not lead to peace. I have spoken about the security dilemma. That is just the historical reality. I would love to see us actually engaging in peace, both at grassroots and international level. This is something unique that Ireland has to offer. I have an interest in peace because I was a peace-building adviser and that was the work I did. We can make such a change on the global stage, but if we risk losing our neutrality, which I believe removing the triple lock is a step towards - others may not believe this and we can have a discussion about it - then we will undermine the position we hold in that space.