The Taoiseach must listen to his backbenchers and abandon plans to scrap the Triple Lock, a move which would gravely undermine our neutrality, according to Social Democrats defence spokesperson Sin\u00e9ad Gibney.<\/p>\n
Deputy Gibney said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear that it remains the view of many Fianna F\u00e1il TDs that retaining the Triple Lock is imperative to protecting our neutrality, a belief once espoused by Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a welcome development – Fianna F\u00e1il once took pride in its defence of neutrality and promotion of multilateralism, as was exemplified by Frank Aiken. It is only natural that many members of the party are disturbed by the Taoiseach\u2019s wish to throw that legacy away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Defence Amendment Bill is deeply flawed, threatening to compromise Ireland\u2019s neutrality by removing the Triple Lock if passed. This reckless move must be resisted in all corners of the House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government has repeatedly asserted that the removal of the Triple Lock is intended to make peacekeeping easier, but this is not the case – it\u2019s about moving away from peacekeeping 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, instead opting to throw away our neutrality rather than acting constructively in a multilateral manner.<\/p>\n
\u201cFianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael backbenchers should follow those who have raised their voices against the removal of the Triple Lock and compel the Government not to move ahead with this disastrous idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
June 22nd, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Taoiseach must listen to his backbenchers and abandon plans to scrap the Triple Lock, a move which would gravely undermine our neutrality, according to Social Democrats defence spokesperson Sin\u00e9ad Gibney. Deputy Gibney said: \u201cIt\u2019s clear that it remains the view of many Fianna F\u00e1il TDs that retaining the Triple Lock is imperative to protecting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[407,644,7,497,679],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence-forces","category-neutrality","category-press-release","category-sinead-gibney","category-triple-lock"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n