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Fianna Fáil junior minister Niall Collins mocked a constituent concerned about Fianna Fáil removing the triple lock – and refused to engage with correspondence, instead responding, “Thank you for your AI generated email.”

Collins’s constituent wrote to him in May imploring him to help save the mechanism – which prevents government from deploying more than 12 Irish soldiers abroad without the approval of cabinet, the Dáil and the UN, and is supported by a majority of the population, according to polls conducted by the Irish Times/Ipsos and Ireland Thinks.

“I strongly believe the best way Fianna Fáil can distinguish itself from Fine Gael is to get behind saving Irish neutrality and protecting the triple lock,” she wrote, discussing Collins’s party’s “disastrous” performance in the Galway West and Dublin Central bye-elections where its candidates received 8.8 percent and 4.2 percent of the vote.

She went on to tell him, in an email sent as part of an UpLift campaign, that by dismantling the triple lock, the Irish government is diminishing Ireland’s standing as respected peacekeepers and creating a situation where Irish troops could be sent to participate in illegal wars in places like Iran and Iraq.

He says the world has changed

The constituent also noted that people such as former head of Permanent Defence Forces Representative Association Gerry Rooney had spoken out about why keeping the Triple Lock is important, “making it clear that, despite the problems of the Security Council, there are mechanisms to approve peacekeeping missions.”

She finished by telling Collins that as her local representative she was strongly urging him to “stand firm with Fianna Fáil’s legacy, speak up for peace and show your voters you are worth supporting”.

He replied that same day via email with a single sentence: “Thanks for your AI generated email.”

Collins, who in 2023 was revealed by The Ditch to have failed to recuse himself from a vote agreeing to sell land owned by Limerick County Council that his wife ultimately bought, has expressed his support for removing the triple lock.

During an appearance on RTÉ’s Saturday with Cormac Ó hEadhra last month Collins claimed,“The world has changed” and that keeping the triple lock, previously described by taoiseach Micheál Martin as “the cornerstone of our neutrality”, was not tenable.

Collins did reply to a follow up email from his constituent, who accused him of being arrogant and condescending.

“I’d like to politely remind you that you are an elected public representative,” she wrote.  “You are there to represent those who put their trust in you by electing you to your position. It does not make you superior to the rest of us or entitled to dismiss genuine concerns that your constituents raise with you.”

The Ditch has contacted Niall Collins and Fianna Fáil for comment.

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