Roadshows to take place in Donegal to make call to protect Ireland's neutrality
If the triple lock is dismantled, Irish troops may be deployed, not to keep the peace, but to engage in conflict as part of an EU Battlegroup or potentially a NATO-led missions
A Neutrality Roadshow to address the danger to Irish neutrality if the Government dismantles the triple lock is to be held this week at two Donegal locations.
Former TD Thomas Pringle will be one of the speakers at the Donegal town roadshow event, which will be held at 8pm, Friday, May 23, at the Abbey Hotel. The roadshow will also be at 7pm, Thursday May 22, in Mín na Craoibhe, Anagaire, F94 RX00.
Currently, the triple lock mechanism only allows deployment of 12 or more troops where there is a UN mandate either from the UN Security Council or UN General Assembly, Irish Government approval, and a Dáil resolution.
“We must be vigilant against Government attempts to erode our neutrality,” Pringle said, as he encouraged the public to attend the roadshow, part of a month-long tour of Ireland to host conversations warning of the dangers to Irish neutrality.
“Irish neutrality is under threat from this government. As a TD, I spoke regularly in the Dáil of the critical need to retain the triple lock in order to preserve Irish military neutrality. In March, the government brought legislation to Cabinet to dismantle the triple lock for deploying the Defence Forces overseas. As I’ve said before, we are in danger of getting to a stage when we end up in the middle of a war, and wondering how we got there. This is a disturbing step in that direction.
“Poll after poll has shown very strong public support for our policy of military neutrality. We can’t let ourselves be led into a situation that nobody wanted or asked for. What we need is a referendum to enshrine neutrality in the Constitution."
Pringle will be joined in Donegal town by Niamh Ní Bhriain of the Transnational Institute and Fionn Wallace, researcher, political writer, and analyst.
From March 25 to April 10, 139 Irish troops participated in a German-led EU Battlegroup training exercise in Hungary, in preparation for deployment to ‘conflicts and crises’ outside the EU. While training exercises are permitted under the Defence Act, deployment on overseas missions without a UN mandate is not. If the triple lock is dismantled, Irish troops may be deployed, not to keep the peace, but to engage in conflict as part of an EU Battlegroup or potentially a NATO-led missions.
Since the foundation of the state, Irish troops have only served overseas on UN-mandated missions. Removing the triple lock will fundamentally change the character of Ireland’s engagement with the world. It may also make Ireland a target for attack if Irish troops become embroiled in future wars overseas.
Former UN peacekeeper Edward Horgan said: “While the world has lost a peacemaker with the death of Pope Francis, there are no shortages of potential war-makers in Europe and internationally. In Ireland, our political leaders continue to erode our active neutrality by abandoning the triple lock, failing to pass the Occupied Territories Bill, providing military and financial support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, and appeasing the US Trump administration in its global economic war.”
Mothers Against Genocide member Clare O’Connor said: “I have two children and I didn’t bring them into this world for them to be used as weapons of war, to be conscripted into war to kill other people’s children or be killed themselves. If we don't save the triple lock, it won't be us as parents sent off to war, it will be our children. We owe it to them to take a stronger stance to protect our neutrality.”
Professor Ray Murphy of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway, said: “In order to protect our military neutrality and support the UN’s role in the maintenance of international peace and security, it is essential to maintain the triple lock.”
The Roadshow is a grassroots, people-led initiative that is not affiliated with any political party. It has seen local communities host speakers from diverse backgrounds, including peace activists and anti-war campaigners, former peacekeepers, legal scholars, academics, writers, and artists, and forms part of a broader campaign launched earlier this year to keep Ireland neutral and save the triple lock.