Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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59. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of a protocol (details supplied) in regard to common defence and the Treaty of Lisbon; if a copy of the text of the protocol will be provided; if it has been adopted; if not, the reason therefor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27286/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Paragraph 5(iv) of the European Council Conclusions of 18/19 June 2009 provided that at the time of the conclusion of the next accession Treaty, the provisions of the Decision in Annex I would be set out in a Protocol to be attached, in accordance with Member States’ respective constitutional requirements, to the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Pending completion of these Treaty procedures, the Heads of State and Government declared that the Decision would be legally binding and take effect from the date of entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon which occurred on 1 December 2009. The Decision is published on the Irish Treaty Series as No. 20 of 2010.Ireland duly instigated the Treaty amendment process by submitting a proposal in accordance with Article 48 TEU, which governs the “ordinary revision procedure” for amending the Treaties. After positive consideration by the European Parliament in April 2012 and the Commission in May 2012, by a Decision of 11 May 2012 the European Council decided that a conference of the representatives of the governments of the Member States should examine the amendments proposed by Ireland in the form of a Protocol on the Concerns of the Irish People on the Treaty of Lisbon, to be annexed to the TEU and TFEU. The European Council further decided that in view of the extent of the proposed amendments, a Convention under Article 48(3) TEU need not be convened. The Protocol on the Concerns of the Irish People on the Treaty of Lisbon was submitted to a written procedure which closed on 16 May 2012 and was subsequently opened for signature.

Following its ratification by all EU Member States, the Protocol entered into force on 1 December 2014. The Protocol was published in the Irish Treaty Series as No. 25 of 2014 and laid before the Dáil on 17 December 2014. In the most recent consolidated version of the EU Treaties, the Protocol is included as Protocol No. 38. In accordance with Article 51 TEU, the Protocols form an integral part of the Treaties.

Section 1, paragraph (iv) of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 2012 amended section 1(1) of the European Communities Act 1972 so as to include a reference to the Protocol within the definition of the “treaties governing the European Union”, which are to be binding on the State and part of the domestic law thereof. The section was commenced on 1 December 2014 by Statutory Instrument No. 577 of 2014 so as to coincide with the entry into force of the Protocol.

The Protocol stipulates, inter alia, that the Treaty of Lisbon does not affect or prejudice Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality, that any decision to move to a common defence will require a unanimous decision of the European Council and that it would then be a matter for Member States, including Ireland, to decide, in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements, whether or not to adopt a common defence. In Ireland’s case, participation in a common defence is precluded by Article 29.4.9 of Bunreacht na hÉireann.