Simon Harris, the Taoiseach, has reaffirmed the government’s objective of dismantling the “triple lock” condition, which confines the overseas deployment of Irish forces to getting a green light from the Government, the Dáil, and through a resolution by the United Nations. He explained that the condition of UN approval basically yields veto powers to the permanent members of the UN Security Council, which comprises the US, UK, China, Russia, and France, with regard to the assignment of Irish peacekeeping forces.
While at Brussels on the EU leaders’ summit’s second day, Mr Harris expressed his views on the irrationality of enabling Russia, in effect, to dictate where Ireland could deploy its peacekeeping troops. The Taoiseach mentioned that Deputy Prime Minister Micheál Martin is looking to introduce a law that reforms the triple lock system. He expressed hopes of accomplishing this within the governing term.
In addition, he clarified that these actions don’t indicate any motivation to shift away from Ireland’s military neutrality, which Irish authorities are resolute to maintain. To this point, conversations amongst the summit’s leaders have primarily centered on global matters, focusing on the Middle East and the intensifying issues in Ukraine, with President Zelenskiy of Ukraine urging further military assistance.
This commitment to dismantling the triple lock mechanism was initially made public by Mr Martin in November. Additionally, last year, the government hosted a consultation forum discussing international security policy. The aspiration from these initiatives, Mr Martin notes, is to empower Ireland with the capability to attend to crises promptly, without expecting approval from the UN security council, which hasn’t mandated a fresh peacekeeping mission since 2014. Under the existing triple lock system, dispatching twelve or more active Defence Force members on overseas missions isn’t feasible without nods from the Dáil, Government, and the UN.