Harris to bring legislation to amend triple lock on Defence Forces deployments
By Jonathan McCambridge, PA
Draft legislation to amend the State’s “triple lock” on the deployment of Defence Forces peacekeepers overseas will be brought to cabinet this week, Tánaiste Simon Harris has said.
Mr Harris said Ireland’s “proud tradition” in peacekeeping cannot be held up by “paralysis at UN”.
The Tánaiste insisted that the proposed changes had “nothing whatsoever to do” with military neutrality.
Under the current system, Ireland cannot deploy any more than 12 Defence Forces peacekeepers overseas without a peacekeeping mission being approved by a vote of the UN Security Council – as well as approval by the Government and the Dáil.
Mr Harris told the RTÉ This Week programme: “The idea of the UN Security Council having a veto on where we deploy Irish troops in relation to peacekeeping is something that needs to be modified.
“The UN Security Council hasn’t found itself in a position to authorise a peacekeeping mission since 2014.
“I think everybody in this country is very proud of the work done by the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann overseas in peacekeeping but we cannot have a situation where any one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia or anybody else, can veto that decision.”
Mr Harris said he was proposing increasing the number of troops who could be sent on peacekeeping missions without triggering the triple lock from 12 to 50.
He said: “That is in line with military advice.
“That 50 includes all of the various personnel that would be required to go on a mission.
“Secondly, I am proposing instead of the UN Security Council and effectively Putin or others having a veto on where our troops go, that missions would have to be in line with the UN Charter.
“This has nothing whatsoever to do with military neutrality. We are remaining militarily neutral.
“I value Irish neutrality, we are not joining any military alliances.
“But it does mean we have to be empowered to work particularly with other European countries on peacekeeping missions.”