Ireland’s defence minister has confirmed that her government is intent on tearing up the triple lock, which is key to Ireland’s official position of military neutrality.
This and other similar moves are intended to make Ireland a more useful pawn for NATO and the US.
Helen McEntee said there was “no ambiguity” about what the government wanted to do and described reform of the neutrality measure as “absolutely essential”.
Her comments come in response to a backbench Fianna Fáil pushback, in which some told the Irish Timesexactly the opposite — that the government has made no “reasoned explanation on the need for change”.
The triple lock is intended to ensure Irish troops are only sent out in large numbers abroad when there is consensus both domestically and internationally. The government can only deploy more than 12 Irish Defence Forces members abroad when the government, Dáil and the UN Security Council all approve.
Ireland keen to be a proxy in Russia-Ukraine war
By coincidence, there are apparently also about a dozen Teachta Dálas (TDs) who signed a letter objecting to the government’s plan to undermine Ireland’s, albeit highly imperfect, record of neutrality. They are alarmed that it marks what they describe as a “fundamental change in traditional Fianna Fáil policy”.
This government has made no secret of its intention to align with NATO missions, including essentially becoming a proxy in the Russia-Ukraine war by surveilling, and even boarding, Russian tankers. McEntee wants to stop Russian tankers moving through Irish waters.
Yesterday, she said:
These are large illegal tankers from Russia that are quite literally traversing our waters. Not only are they selling oil that is funding and feeding the war in Ukraine, but they are also an environmental hazard.
Russian ambassador, Yuriy Filatov, described the move as “piracy” in February. He went on to describe McEntee’s remarks as “remarkable, unprecedented and unacceptable”.
Russian-flagged tankers have apparently been doing the world a service by breaking illegal US sanctions on the likes of Iran and Venezuela. McEntee’s comments on the environment are a bit rich given her government’s keenness on climate-wrecking data centres.
Meanwhile, the Irish government is happy to let weapons flow through Shannon airport to aid ‘Israel’s’ genocide. It is similarly relaxed about assisting the US in its illegal assault on Iran.
McEntee also repeated the government’s familiar talking point of Putin having a veto over Irish troop deployment through its ability to do so in the UN Security Council.
She said:
It is currently the situation that countries like China, the US, Russia can dictate where we send our peacekeeping troops to, and any person in this country knows that we have an extremely proud and long-standing tradition of our troops being sent to missions abroad, in particular Lebanon.
Ireland must move away from US control, not further entrench it
It is true that the veto power in the UN body is an issue, notably allowing the US to repeatedly block action against the Zionist entity as it carries out its holocaust in Gaza. However, the point is moot in the case of Ireland, as the US already maintains a de facto veto over Irish government policy in some areas.
When Ireland appeared to be proceeding to enact the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) — designed to limit trade with ‘Israel’ — the US ambassador to Ireland, Claire Cronin, sent an email warning of “consequences” if the measures went ahead.
Ninety minutes later, then tánaiste Micheál Martin committed only to a review of the bill rather than backing its passage. The government has stalled on the OTB ever since.
The issue with ending the triple lock, and other moves towards lessening neutrality, is that they would formally and legally place Ireland even more at the disposal of criminals in Washington. The US wouldn’t even need to resort to the hassle and potential embarrassment of dodgy deals behind closed doors, and threats delivered via email.
After centuries of living under British rule, Ireland has allowed itself to be recolonised by US big tech. To Washington, it is essentially a floating data centre on the edge of the Atlantic.
The US wants a more martial Irish Defence Force to protect its crucial infrastructure. There should be a reversal of this undermining of sovereignty, rather than a doubling down through triple lock abolition.
Featured image via Brian Lawless/ PA Wire
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