For years now the government and the media establishment have been telling the same lies about the Triple Lock in order to prepare the ground to end Irish neutrality. No matter how many times their talking points are exposed they still cling to them because there are no good reasons to ditch the Triple Lock.
The leadership in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been given a task by their masters in Washington, London and Brussels and if they get it past the post perhaps Micheál might even get a cushy job out of it. If the Triple Lock goes, countless working class sons and daughters will be coming home maimed or in body bags from senseless illegal wars. A price FF and FG seem willing to pay for pats from their masters and the gifts of the revolving door industry.
Yesterday afternoon Micheál Martin was beside himself in the Dáil shouting about how the Triple Lock must go because of the Russian veto on Irish peacekeeping deployments. A stark contrast to him on the floor of the Dáil in 2013 saying the Triple Lock was the core of Irish neutrality. What has changed? There has been no Russian veto since 2013. In fact there had not been a Russian veto of a UN Peacekeeping mission since the formation of the Russian Federation.
Under the terms of the Triple Lock Irish defence forces cannot be deployed to a mission that lacks a UN mandate. If more than 12 Irish defence forces personnel are deployed on overseas missions they need approval by the government cabinet, Dáil Éireann and there must be the UN mandate.
If the legislation being pushed to destroy the Triple Lock passes the government will be able to send 100 Irish defence forces to any illegal war fighting mission in the world without even a vote in the Dáil. This is the gravity of the vote taking place this Wednesday October 21st.
The government and media establishment argue that the UN mandate is a restriction on Irish sovereignty. But they never tell us under whose authority and along with which forces we will deploy if we step outside the UN mandate system. The reality is the EU and NATO will be dictating where we deploy. We will be fighting alongside the same forces that have just orchestrated, armed, and run political cover for the genocide of Gaza, the illegal bombing of Iran, the Israeli attacks on and occupation of Lebanon, and have kept the brutal war in Ukraine going for years to bleed Russia at the cost of generations of working class Ukrainian men.
If the Triple Lock goes, the first mission we will deploy on is to the EU mission to Lebanon. This is a not a peacekeeping mission, the EU has no authority to initiate a peacekeeping mission. The EU supports Israel. They support Israel while it carries out genocide in Gaza, they support their ethnic cleansing and occupation of Lebanon. The EU mission in Lebanon is designed to combat Hezbollah, one of the handful of forces who intervened and attempted to stop the genocide in Gaza. At worst the EU will help precipitate a civil war, at the very least we will again be materially complicit in assisting the genocidal Israeli state as it expands its terror and destruction beyond its borders.
This is why FF and FG want rid of the Triple Lock, because they want to send Irish Defence Forces to participate in illegal and dangerous missions under the command of the EU. They cannot tell us this so they shout nonsense about the evil Russian threat.
Both the Nice and Lisbon treaties were defeated in national referendums partly due to fears among the Irish public that they would undermine Irish neutrality. On each occasion when we were asked again to accept these treaties we were assured that the Triple Lock system that has been in place since 1960 would be protected if we accepted the treaties.
The government is breaking the promises made without going back to the people. They are attempting to do exact what we feared they would – get us embroiled in EU and NATO militarism and destroy our legacy of neutrality and UN peacekeeping.
They won’t go back to the people because they know they would not win a referendum on the abolishment of Irish neutrality. They couldn’t give a damn about democracy.
This is a perilous time in world history. The US and NATO are throwing the world into chaos in a desperate attempt to preserve the flailing US-led imperialist order. In this system the EU is but a cog in the NATO machine that is being manoeuvred towards endless war.
The EU has lost the run of itself completely. It has backed genocide. It has decimated its own economy for a failing and unwinnable war in Ukraine it is desperate to keep going. It has embraced runaway militarisation at the cost of every social good in preparation for what?!
At this time in history we are blessed to be a neutral state, we are fortunate to have the Triple Lock mechanism that has kept Irish Defence Forces out of illegal wars like the Iraq war since 1960. There is no democratic mandate to end Irish neutrality. We must stop the government from gutting the Triple Lock. If not we will be fighting alongside the genocidal and fascist NATO powers as they bring the world further into chaos.
Today the Dáil will vote to advance the end of Irish neutrality to the next stage. Ring the government TDs and tell them you will know who to hold responsible when the dead and maimed start coming home from imperialist wars. Raise this issue in your unions and workplace. Take to the streets to defend Irish neutrality. There will be a gathering today at the Fianna Fáil HQ (65-66 Mount Street Lower) at 1pm and more to come.
WE MUST SAVE THE TRIPLE LOCK.
