Government should not join the 'warmongers' insists Laois TD
Laois TD Brian Stanley says referendum on change is a denial of democracy and a slap in the face to Irish citizen
A Laois TD has called for honesty from the Government over the removal of the triple lock and urged Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the independents not to join those who are ‘beating the war drums’ for the arms industry and superpowers.
Independent TD Brian Stanley was among those to speak in the Dáil in opposition to changes to legal requirements; three tests must be satisfied before Irish troops can be deployed overseas. These are: a Government, a vote of the Dáil and United Nations backing.
However, a stalemate on the UN Security Council means that it has not authorised a new peacekeeping mission since 2014 so the Irish Goverment says it has to change the law.
Dep Stanley called for honesty when he spoke in Leinster House.
“There needs to be a level of honesty about what is being put forward here. The Government is not being honest about what is happening here. It is doing away with multilateralism and having UN approval so that Ireland can participate in what the Bill refers to as other regional arrangements and relevant international forces,” he said.
The TD continued: “The fact is this Bill is not a small change or a modification to our defence and foreign policy and it is misleading spin to say otherwise. It is a complete change of our position as a State and how we deal with international relations and the UN. It is not reform of the triple lock; it is the abolition of it. It is yet another move, on top of what Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been doing for the last 20 years or so, to undermine our position as a neutral State.
“This includes misinformation and arms industry propaganda pumped out, day after day, participation in joint NATO missions, and the scandalous use of Shannon Airport by the US war machine to carry out its illegal oil wars in the Middle East. I could go on and on,” he said.
The Portlaoise - based TD accused Government Ministers and spokespersons of “misinformation”, such as a claim that Ireland cannot deploy more than 12 troops for rescue missions unless the UN Security Council approves it.
“There is no limit on what can be deployed for missions related to rescue, natural disasters or for humanitarian purposes. Another example is the claim that we will not be able to participate in peacekeeping missions, but there are 11 active peacekeeping missions already in the world.
“Another claim is that we need to modernise our Defence Forces. Of course we do, and we should not be leaving it until now to do it. That needed to be resourced, our personnel needed to be paid properly and our Defence Forces needed to be modernised long ago. That should have happened, and nothing in the triple lock stops us from doing that.
“Another suggestion is that Russia will use the power of veto that the five permanent members of the Security Council have to block resolutions on peacekeeping. Which ones? There was only one resolution, in 1999, that was vetoed by China. In fact, between 2020 and 2024, 264 out of 284 UN resolutions were passed by the Security Council, with only 20 rejected. This happened without anyone exercising a veto. The Government might look at those facts,” he said.
He urged Ministers to check national declarations attached to passing the Lisbon and Nice treaties by the Irish people to protect the triple lock.
“I have read them carefully and the triple lock is there in them to protect our neutrality, which people were concerned about. Any attempt to change the law or to undo those national declarations by the sovereign people is wrong. It is theirs to change only and not holding a referendum is a denial of democracy and a slap in the face to Irish citizens,” he said.
He said neutrality is at stake.
“Despite saturation levels of coverage to drop neutrality and the triple lock, successive opinion polls show that the majority of the electorate wants to retain our neutrality. Our neutrality has given us a level of credibility internationally and is our best defence against aggression because we do not pose a threat to other countries. We should work with other neutral and non-aligned countries to build multilateralism. I accept that the UN needs to be reformed but we should work to reform it and not join in with the warmongers, those who are beating the war drums at the behest of the arms industry and Western superpowers,” concluded the Dep Stanley.