The Government\u2019s determination to remove the triple lock as part of the Defence Amendment Bill does not have public support and will continue to be strongly resisted by the Opposition, according to Social Democrats TD Sin\u00e9ad Gibney.<\/p>\n
Deputy Gibney, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on defence, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Minister for Defence has today sought Cabinet approval for this deeply flawed Bill, which will compromise Ireland\u2019s neutrality by removing the triple lock. If enacted, this will mean that any overseas deployment of our peacekeeping troops will no longer need a UN mandate and will only require Government and Oireachtas approval.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe removal of the triple lock is not about making peacekeeping easier, it’s about moving away from peacekeeping altogether and towards using military force to pursue regional interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Government cared about peacekeeping and humanitarian functions, we would be redeploying troops to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and fighting for search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe UN is not perfect, but it is the legitimate voice of international law. There has been very little engagement from the Government on UN reform.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are constantly fed the line that the UN is stymied by veto powers held by countries such as the USA, Russia and China. However, current legislation bypasses the veto entirely by allowing our troops to be part of missions through a resolution of the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations, where no veto exists.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to sending Irish men and women overseas to risk their lives, proper safeguards need to be in place. It is disingenuous for the Government to be complaining that their hands are being tied while not even attempting to use the avenues available to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
June 9, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Government\u2019s determination to remove the triple lock as part of the Defence Amendment Bill does not have public support and will continue to be strongly resisted by the Opposition, according to Social Democrats TD Sin\u00e9ad Gibney. Deputy Gibney, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on defence, said: \u201cThe Minister for Defence has today sought Cabinet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[407,7,497,679,855],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence-forces","category-press-release","category-sinead-gibney","category-triple-lock","category-un"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n