Letter to the Editor: Protecting the Triple Lock would send out a message

Sir,

THE following letter has been submitted to An Taoiseach.

On behalf of the undersigned academics and university workers, we write in response to the recent draft legislation to amend the state’s 'triple lock' on the deployment of Defence Forces peacekeepers overseas.

For many years Ireland has been a courageous voice on the international stage, proudly championing peace initiatives even when doing so meant challenging the interests of the world’s most powerful nations.

At the height of the Cold War, Minister Frank Aiken led efforts at the United Nations (UN) towards the creation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Similarly, Ireland advanced processes on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, cluster munitions, and anti-personnel landmines.

Moreover, Ireland is the only nation with a continuous presence on UN and UN-mandated peace-support operations since 1958.

Since the foundation of the state, Ireland has upheld its constitutional commitment to resolving international disputes peacefully, adopting a policy of neutrality that has kept Ireland out of foreign wars. Though this made Ireland an outlier among many of its European peers, it demonstrated a clear and unwavering commitment to peace.

Ireland’s neutrality has served it well, earning it credibility and legitimacy on the global sphere as a peace-maker – a reputation that the people of Ireland are rightly immensely proud of.

We write today because we are alarmed at the cabinet’s decision to approve the scrapping of Ireland’s Triple Lock. The Triple Lock is a central component of Ireland’s neutral position because it essentially stands as a bulwark against deploying Irish troops unless there is a UN mandate to do so.

In other words, the Triple Lock guarantees that troop deployment may only take place under the auspices of the UN system, as guarantor of international peace and security. Removing the Triple Lock may sound the death knell on Irish neutrality.

In your capacity as opposition leader, you described the Triple Lock as being ‘at the core of our

neutrality’. You now claim otherwise and your government regularly informs the public not to conflate neutrality with the Triple Lock. Similarly, you acknowledged that although ‘the United Nations is not working as it should ... we must not abandon it as an essential part of theinternational system’.

While the geopolitical and international context has changed over the past few years, there is no obvious justification to now abandon this ‘essential part of the international system’.

It is easy to be neutral in times of peace. The real test, and where it matters most, is being neutral in times of war and heightened conflict. By undoing the Triple Lock, Ireland will significantly weaken its commitment to the UN system, UN peace-keeping and to multilateralism.

This would come at a time when the UN faces unprecedented challenges, particularly in the context of Israel’s genocidal war on Palestine.

The government’s main argument for removing the Triple Lock rests on the claim that the UN Security Council holds a veto over the deployment of Irish troops overseas.

This is misleading and incorrect.

Yes, the United Nations Charter, a foundational document of international law, grants veto powers to Permanent Five (P5) members.

But the government’s framing of these powers would suggest that P5 members specifically set out to stop Ireland from deploying troops.

This is not the case. P5 vetoes are driven by geopolitical tensions, and a veto in respect of a peacekeeping mission would almost certainly stem from such tensions and the security concerns arising from the deployment of a proposed peace-keeping mission.

In other words, if a peace-keeping mission was vetoed by a permanent member, and it was to attempt to deploy anyway, there is little likelihood that it would actually be able to keep the peace.

Moreover, although the UN Charter gives primary responsibility for international peace and security to the Security Council, General Assembly resolution 377 (V), also known as the ‘Uniting for Peace’ resolution, sets out that ‘...if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in the case of a breach of the peace or act of aggression, the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restore international peace and security’.

In this regard, the Defence Amendment Act 2006 specifically makes reference to ‘a resolution of the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations'.

Given the weak arguments for removing the Triple Lock, we are left to wonder if other motivations are at play, particularly at a time when the government is also looking to significantly ramp up military spending.

If Ireland acts outside the remit of the UN Charter and deploys troops on EU or NATO missions, it may quickly find itself in direct conflict with the world’s most powerful armies, some of which have nuclear warheads at their disposal.

For us, it seems clear that the benefits of operating within the UN system far outweigh the risks associated with operating outside it.

Ireland is a small island nation. Its contribution on the global stage has been immense, punching far above its weight to promote peace and reject war.

Considering that a recent opinion poll showed that 75% of Ireland’s population favours maintaining Ireland’s current policy of neutrality, it would appear that your government has no mandate to revoke the Triple Lock.

To the contrary, in a healthy democracy, a government would transform such overwhelming popular support into concrete action by holding a referendum to enshrine neutrality in the Irish constitution.

At a time when the world appears to be on the brink of a global war and potential nuclear catastrophe, we urgently need global leaders to courageously face down warmongers and redouble their commitment to peace and neutrality, to genuine multilateralism, and to upholding the rule of law.

Protecting the Triple Lock would send a message to the Irish people and to the global community that Ireland intends to do precisely that.

Is sinne, le meas,

Dr. Patrick Bresnihan,

Associate Professor,

Maynooth University.