The Communist Party of Ireland condemns the plans by the Irish government to abandon the “Triple Lock” on the deployment of Irish troops outside the state. The government does not have a mandate for this policy, it was not put to the public in a General Election and does not reflect the opinion of the Irish people as expressed in opinion polls on the issue.
The government is being disingenuous by claiming that the Triple Lock is no longer appropriate because the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have vetoes on Security Council resolutions. The veto was in place when the Triple Lock was put in place, the veto was in place when the Irish state applied for membership of the UN and the veto was in place when the country joined the UN in 1955. In fact, the veto has been in place ever since the UN came into existence. Successive Irish governments have continued to work within the UN, despite the existence of the veto.
The real reason that the government wants to abandon the Triple Lock is because US imperialism is being challenged economically by the rise of the People’s Republic of China and potentially by the BRICS. Also, as more and more countries in the global south reject the neo-colonial straitjacket imposed on them by the US, UK and the former colonial powers who dominate the EU, and seek national sovereignty, the US, EU and the UK will seek to bypass the UN as they use the threat and actual use of military power to assert their dominance. If the Triple Lock is abandoned, we may see Irish troops deployed to areas such as the Sahel to support French puppet-rulers. This runs contrary to the anti-colonial traditions of the Irish people as expressed in their ongoing support for Palestine.
The massive support for Palestine forced the Irish government to break, however slightly, with the official EU support for Israeli genocide. This proves that protest works. We must protest against the plans to abandon the Triple Lock. By mobilising in our workplaces, in our schools and colleges, in our communities and in our trade unions we can stop this latest attack on neutrality. Let us defend the Triple Lock and work towards a progressive neutrality in which the Irish government actively campaigns for peace, social development and equality, and re-asserts an independent foreign policy.
