People Before Profit Dublin MEP candidate Bríd Smith TD to introduce motion calling for Government to back-off the triple lock, commit to a referendum on neutrality, and end use of Shannon airport by the US military.
On Wednesday morning, People Before Profit Dublin MEP candidate Bríd Smith TD will introduce a People Before Profit Motion re Neutrality and the Triple Lock in the Dáil.
The motion will call on the Government to;
- withdraw plans for legislation to end the triple lock.
- commit to a referendum on enshrining neutrality in the Constitution.
- end the use of Shannon airport by the US military.
Since 2022 we have seen the Government accelerate efforts to undermine neutrality in a concerted campaign to engage the State even further in the EU militarisation project and move us ever closer to NATO.
They have no mandate for what they are doing, but that hasn’t stopped their fundamentally undemocratic campaign to push us closer to a military alliance and EU militarisation project. This project includes the very countries that are arming the genocide in Gaza. But despite the Government’s efforts, a large majority of the public continues to support neutrality.
There is a terrifying rush to war in progress. Europe increased military spending in 2023 to €552 billion, and NATO countries increased military spending to $1.34 trillion. NATO accounts for 55% of global military spending, far out-spending any other nation or bloc in the world. This military spending means vast numbers of badly needed homes, schools and hospitals are lost to fund warfare. We need homes, not bombs; and we need healthcare, not warfare.
The triple lock is the legal provision that prevents the Government from sending ordinary Irish soldiers to go, fight and die in a war for oil and profit in the Middle East or elsewhere on behalf of US and Western imperialism.
Prevented by the triple lock from participating in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Fianna Fáil instead allowed Shannon to become a forward operating base for the US military. As a result, more than 3 million troops have passed through Shannon over the past 21 years.
If the triple lock is removed, then we will inevitably see Ireland’s participation in EU-led missions without UN approval, and US or NATO-led missions such as the predatory wars in Iraq and Afghanistan”.
It is to stop this rush to militarisation, and the wars that militarisation inevitably brings, that I will introduce People Before Profit’s Private Members Business motion for debate in the Dáil from 10am to 12 noon on Wednesday. The motion will be voted on by TDs in the Dáil on Wednesday evening”.
Wording for the Dáil Motion re Neutrality and the Triple Lock
Body
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin TD said in 2013 that the triple lock was at the core of our neutrality and described the attempt to undermine it as “an out-of-touch ideological obsession on the part of Fine Gael”;
— Fianna Fáil’s 2020 general election manifesto states that Ireland will “Fully maintain neutrality and the Triple Lock … Fianna Fáil reaffirms its commitment to the retention of the triple lock of UN mandate or authorisation, Government and Dáil approval, prior to committing Defence Forces personnel on overseas service”, and it concludes “We will fully maintain neutrality and the triple lock mechanism”;
— the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future states the Government will “ensure that all overseas operations will be conducted in line with our position of military neutrality and will be subject to a triple lock of UN, Government and Dáil Éireann approval”;
— in April 2022, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Simon Coveney TD, said about a possible change to the triple lock “I have yet to see an example of where Ireland has been prevented from sending troops to a part of the world where it wants to make a peace-keeping intervention in the Mediterranean, Mali or elsewhere”;
— in November 2022, Minister Eamon Ryan said “I think the current system supports our country well. I think our position as a neutral country in the world actually gives us greater strength. I think the triple lock doesn’t stop us engaging where we do have to engage”;
— none of the Government parties, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or the Green Party, campaigned at the last General Election to end neutrality or the triple lock, and therefore they have no mandate for any such policies;
— the Government continues to edge us closer to a military alliance and European Union (EU) militarisation project that includes NATO, the United States (US), Germany and Britain, the countries that are arming a genocide in Gaza and which continue to sustain Israel’s ability to commit the most horrific crimes;
— the National Consultative Forum on International Security Policy was designed to manipulate public opinion towards further undermining Irish neutrality by moving us closer to NATO;
— a large majority of the public continues to support neutrality despite intense pressure from establishment politicians to support militarisation;
— some Western political leaders are promoting militarisation and preparations for war, with the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, having claimed that we are in a pre-war era, Admiral Rob Bauer, Chair of the NATO Military Committee, said “We are preparing for war with Russia” and the French President, Emmanuel Macron believes that NATO should be sending troops into Ukraine;
— global military spending is increasing rapidly, and according to NATO its members increased military spending sharply in 2023 to $1.34 trillion and 11 NATO members now spend 2 per cent or more of their GDP on their military, also, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Europe increased military spending by 16 per cent in 2023 to €552 billion and NATO countries accounted for 55 per cent of global military spending in 2023, far out-spending any other nation or bloc in the world; and
— this military spending means vast numbers of badly needed homes, schools and hospitals are foregone to fund warfare;
further notes that:
— Ireland’s declaration to the Treaty of Nice, submitted as part of ratifying it, states that “the participation of contingents of the Irish Defence Forces in overseas operations, including those carried out under the European security and defence policy, requires (a) the authorisation of the operation by the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations, (b) the agreement of the Irish Government and (c) the approval of Dáil Éireann, in accordance with Irish law”;
— the triple lock is the only legal provision that meant that a government that effectively supported the US in its invasion of Iraq, by facilitating the invasion of Iraq through its use of Shannon Airport, could not legally send ordinary Irish soldiers to go, fight and die in a war for oil and profit in the Middle East on behalf of the US;
— prevented by the triple lock from participating in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Fianna Fáil instead allowed US warplanes to refuel at Shannon and started a process whereby Shannon became a de facto forward operating base for the US military, so that more than 3 million troops have passed through Shannon over the past 21 years;
— under the United Nations (UN) Charter, there are two legal ways the Government can send troops abroad;
self-defence, which is provided for under Bunreacht na hÉireann and in which situation there is no need for the triple lock to be activated; and
peacekeeping authorised by the UN Security Council, therefore anything within the UN Charter comes within the triple lock; and
— if the triple lock is removed, it will be EU-led missions without UN approval, that is, outside of international law, and US or NATO-led missions, opening the prospects of Ireland’s participation in such disastrous wars as those in Iraq and Afghanistan; and
calls on the Government to:
— withdraw plans for legislation to end the triple lock;
— commit to a referendum on enshrining neutrality in the Constitution; and — end the use of Shannon Airport by the US military.