The Irish people must have a vote to decide the future of the triple lock, according to Social Democrats Foreign Affairs and Defence Spokesperson Sin\u00e9ad Gibney<\/p>\n
Deputy Gibney was commenting as she announced that the D\u00e1il will soon debate a Social Democrats’ motion which, if passed, would facilitate just that \u2013 a people\u2019s vote, or plebiscite, on the issue.<\/p>\n
Deputy Gibney said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIreland joined the UN in 1955 and, in 1960, legislation was first passed to ensure that members of the defence forces could deploy on UN mandated peacekeeping missions.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than 60 years, the blue beret of UN peacekeeping missions has been synonymous with Irish overseas missions. Throughout that time, members of the defence forces have served with distinction in a number of conflict zones.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the turn of the century, when previous governments were trying to pass the Nice and Lisbon Treaties, the triple lock was held out as a guarantee that Ireland\u2019s policy of military neutrality would be retained, despite closer links being forged with the EU.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, despite all of these solemn commitments, the current government is attempting to scrap the triple lock \u2013 and the requirement for peacekeeping missions to have a UN mandate – without any national debate on the issue having taking place.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the importance of the triple lock, and its centrality to our neutrality, the Irish people deserve to have a say on its future. Instead of the government unilaterally dismantling the triple lock, we need a people\u2019s vote on the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cA plebiscite could be held quite quickly, given it is a net issue, empowering the Irish people to decide whether to keep, or scrap, the triple lock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government, if they believe they are doing the right thing, have nothing to fear from a people\u2019s vote. They simply need to make their case, that the triple lock is an anachronism, and see if the people agree with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlebiscites are quite rare, and held on matters of public importance, and there can be no doubt that a serious undermining of our longstanding policy of neutrality meets this test.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn March 26th, the D\u00e1il will debate a Social Democrats’ motion calling for such a people\u2019s vote. I hope other parties, including government parties, will support our motion and facilitate this important national debate and vote on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
14 March, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Irish people must have a vote to decide the future of the triple lock, according to Social Democrats Foreign Affairs and Defence Spokesperson Sin\u00e9ad Gibney Deputy Gibney was commenting as she announced that the D\u00e1il will soon debate a Social Democrats’ motion which, if passed, would facilitate just that \u2013 a people\u2019s vote, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,497],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","category-sinead-gibney"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n