Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 November 2023
24. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the engagements he or his Department have had with representative governments or civil society organisations from the global south, particularly those heavily impacted by war and conflict, in consideration or development of proposals regarding the triple lock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52586/23]
View answerIn June of this year, the Government organised a four-day Consultative Forum on International Security Policy, which provided an opportunity for a serious and honest conversation about the foreign, security and defence policy options available to the State and the international environment that we currently face.
The Forum consisted of some 80 people moderating or speaking on 18 panels, reflecting a wide variety of expertise and experience. They included many Irish people with practical on-the-ground experience of peacekeeping and peacebuilding all over the world, both civilians and military, as well as national and international academics, experts from NGOs, and Irish people working with the UN, EU, OSCE and NATO. There were also in excess of 800 submissions received focusing on a security and defence issues including the 'Triple Lock'.
The 'Triple Lock' provides that contingents of the Defence Forces may only be despatched for overseas peace support operations where that deployment is (i) approved by the Government, (ii) approved by a resolution of Dáil Éireann if the proposed deployment if of more than 12 personnel and (iii) that the operation is mandated or authorised by the United Nations
In her report of the Forum's proceedings, the Chair of the Forum, Professor Louise Richardson, described the debate on the 'Triple Lock' as a 'contested area' and, as we saw, there is no single consensus over how best to proceed. However, we did see ample evidence of other options on how to allow agility and responsiveness, while ensuring our actions comply with the highest standards of international law.
In the course of my contribution to last week's Dáil debate on the Forum's Report, I said that "in effect, this 'Triple Lock' system hand the five permanent members of the Security Council a veto over national sovereignty to deploy troops to peacekeeping missions as we see fit."
Reflecting on the real effect of the triple lock provisions and the debate that took place throughout the Consultative Forum, I have concluded that it makes sense to amend our existing legislation in a manner which would allow us to respond to crisis situations with more agility and, where in making those important decisions, we do so without surrendering our sovereignty.
I have, therefore, instructed officials in the Department of Defence to prepare legislative proposals without delay that would govern the future overseas deployments of our Defence Forces. Work on the preparation of those legislative proposals is commencing immediately, with a view to proposals being brought to Government in due course.
Any legislative proposals approved by Government will be presented to, considered and scrutinised by both Houses of the Oireachtas, thus giving members of this House and Seanad Éireann ample opportunity to debate such proposals.
