Neutrality and triple lock
Deputy Murphy accused Government parties of blocking a neutrality referendum and of weakening the triple lock. The Minister insisted the Programme for Government commits to active military neutrality and UN, Government and Dáil approval for overseas operations.
Last night, the Green Party held the casting votes on whether to hold a referendum to enshrine neutrality in the Irish Constitution. Shamefully, its members voted with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to block that referendum. In doing so, they voted against the long-standing position of the Green Party and the position for which the Minister voted in 2003, 2016 and 2018.
Later that evening, it emerged that the Tánaiste, and future Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, had told the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party that Ireland should drop the so-called triple lock and participate in European defence co-operation, that is, European militarisation. That is contrary not only to Green Party policy, about which the Minister seems not to care at all, but even to what is in the programme for Government. Where is the Minister going to draw the line? Will he be opposing the dropping of the triple lock mechanism or will he be going along with this process of militarisation?
Comment on this
Programmes for Government are important in that they offer guidance. The guidance in this case is very clear. The programme for Government states that we "will not participate in projects that are incompatible with our policy of active military neutrality and non-membership of military alliances". It also states that we "will ensure that all overseas operations ... will be subject to a triple lock of UN, Government and Dáil Éireann approval". I stand by that and that is what this Government will follow. It is important at this time more than ever. I believe that requiring UN approval is central. This war, more than anything else, is about the rights of nation states within the United Nations under that rules system to which we all adhere. Insisting on UN approval as part of the triple lock system, as well as the approval of the Government and the Dáil, is a way to stand up for the most important principle of the United Nations multilateral peace-based system. That is what the programme for Government states. I am proud that the Green Party and its colleagues in government stitched that stipulation into the programme for Government. We stand by it today and will do so again tomorrow.