AARON KENT
There was an energetic start to the 2026 council term as the January Plenary meeting lasted over three hours and ended with shouting from both sides of the Council Chamber.
The issue at the centre of the debate was a motion proposed by Sinn Féin Councillor Joeanne Bailey and seconded by Cllr. Catherine Burke, with the support of Sinn Féin’s, Pat Fitzgerald, Kate O’ Mahoney, Jim Griffin, Donnchadh Mulcahy, and John Hearne.
The motion asked for Waterford Council to reject the government’s plans to abolish or amend the Triple Lock. The Triple Lock refers to the conditions needed for Ireland to send more than 12 troops, be they military or peacekeeping, into international missions. As the name suggests, the Triple Lock involves three groups, who are: the UN Security Council, Dáil Éireann, and the Irish Government. All three of these groups must agree for Irish personnel to become involved in overseas conflict.
Before the meeting began, there was a demonstration outside City Hall, where those aligned with the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign called for the Council to pass the motion and protect the Triple Lock. They say failure to do so will lead to “a ruthless transfer of wealth, that has no regard for the Irish people”, and asked if removing the UN’s involvement in the Triple Lock would really benefit ordinary Irish people?
The Motion
Introducing the motion, Cllr. Joeanne Bailey said: “I was honoured to be asked to submit the motion by the Trade’s Council and the IPSC committee, they along with Sinn Féin have been holding information evenings and raising the question around our neutrality. Sinn Féin will oppose any attempts by government to undermine our neutrality".
“The Triple Lock neutrality protection is a core component to Ireland’s foreign policy. The reality is if the Triple Lock is removed Irish troops can be deployed anywhere in any circumstances providing that the government of the day have the Dáil majority," she said.
“Irish peacekeepers have done us very proud for generations under the UN flag. The Triple Lock is the last protection our defence forces, our personnel, our loved ones, and our children have to being involved in wars that don’t concern us.”
She finished on a personal note: “As a mother, I don’t want to see my son fighting in a war that has nothing to do with us.”
Cllr. Catherine Burke then seconded this motion, saying: “What is proposed by government is a fundamental change to how this state decides when and where we send Irish soldiers on overseas missions".
“The Triple Lock was not created by accident, it was put in place by a clear and solemn commitment to the Irish people. To now seek to remove or weaken it without consulting the people is a breach of trust. If the government believe it is justified then it must have the courage to put it to the people in a referendum," Cllr. Burke said.
“Matters of neutrality and sovereignty and the deployment of the defence forces are not for quiet amendment; they belong to the Irish people. This Council should express its strong opposition, and we are not saying no to peacekeeping or international engagement.”
The Debate
The debate that followed brought heated comments from both sides of the Council Chamber. Essentially, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael argued that the Triple Lock did not equal neutrality and the motion itself was contradictory; Councillors aligned with Sinn Féin argued that the motion had been approved by the relevant bodies and that the Triple Lock itself existed in its current form because a Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael government used it to get the public to approve the Treaty of Nice in the 2002 referendum. They argued that changing the Triple Lock now without the approval of the Irish people was a betrayal.
Before the motion had even been introduced there were signs of the conflict to come as Fianna Fáil councillor Eamon Quinlan took issue with the wording: “I am in favour of neutrality but I cannot support this motion".
Cllr. Quinlan, who is a solicitor by trade, said that the motion was incorrect to suggest a UN General Assembly could give a UN mandate for Irish troops to be deployed.
“The General Assembly has no hand act or part in the authorisation of social mandates, they can only talk about it non-binding. It would be like us saying I want the Department of Education to provide more beds out in the hospital," he said.
“I am just wondering if the author would be prepared to withdraw the motion clean it up and resubmit it.”
According to the United Nations, General Assemblies do not have the power to enforce their recommendations on member states.
In response, Cllr. Bailey made the point that this motion had passed through the Corporate Policy Group, which involved all parties, and had already been passed, and deemed acceptable, by multiple Council’s around the country; and Mayor Seamus Ryan deemed the motion valid for the meeting.
“We have all parties represented on the CPG and for that reason I am willing to take this motion as it is in front of us," Cllr. Bailey said.
The reasons against the motion centred on the view that the Triple Lock protection is not the same thing as neutrality. As Fine Gael’s Cllr. Jim D'Arcy, commented: “I will be opposing this motion as I don’t believe neutrality has anything to do with the Triple Lock. I think a Double Lock is enough".
A Double Lock would refer to the Irish State making decisions on its own terms, without involving the UN Security Council, whose five permanent members with veto powers are China, France, Russia, Britain, and the US.
“We are stopping ourselves deploying our troops in peacekeeping missions because we have to get sanction from the UN,” continued Cllr. D'Arcy. “It makes no sense. I have no problem with a referendum in regards to neutrality, but the Triple Lock has absolutely nothing to do with that.”
Cllr. Jason Murphy seemed to concur with this, as he said: “Our neutrality has nothing to do with the Triple Lock. The reason I say that is we were neutral in one of the worst conflicts in history. There was no UN, there was no Triple Lock".
"The only people in my opinion that should decide where Irish troops are deployed are the Irish people and the representatives of those people," he said.
Cllr. Murphy also disagreed with the suggestion that the Triple Lock was created during the Treaty of Nice referendum, saying it originated in 1960.
Although The Defence Act first introduced the Triple Lock in 1960, it was updated to its current form in 2001.
Cllr. Adam Wyse called the shouting between the councillors ‘embarrassing’ and used the example of Palestine to explain why he would not support the motion.
“If we put the problem in the context of Gaza, there were international peacekeepers, civilian protection issues, Ireland’s participation could currently be vetoed by the United States based on political interests of the Israeli government. This is not neutrality," said Cllr. Wyse.
“We’ve had Sinn Fein councillors today suggest that we shouldn’t travel to America [for St Patricks Day], but they are more than happy to have America decide where our peacekeepers go.”
This comment referred to a suggestion earlier in the meeting by John Hearne that the Mayor might consider a trip to Canada rather than Boston this St. Patricks Day, given America’s current role in international relations.
For his part, Cllr. John Hearne, gave a stark account of how Irish soldiers were treated following major conflicts.
“After the Treaty of Limerick all the Irish soldiers went off to fight in foreign wars. There’s a famous poem by Thomas Davis that goes: In far foreign fields, from Dunkirk to Belgrade, lie the soldiers and chiefs of the Irish Brigade," said Cllr. Hearne.
“It was the waste of Irish blood all across the continent, fighting for Kings and Tsars, after the battle of Waterloo they put up a monument in London. What they done with Irish soldiers is put their dead bodies on board ships and used them for fertilizer all around Essex," claimed Cllr. Hearne.
"In the First World War, thousands fought, in the Second World War, thousands more fought and died. A grand-uncle of mine died. All wasted lives.
"Afterwards we couldn’t get a vote in the North of Ireland, couldn’t get a house, we got internment, shoot to kill, collusion. That's what we got," Cllr. Hearne added.
The Vote
Finally, Cllr. Jim Griffin made the point that after speaking to other councils about the same motion, they emphasised that decisions may not impact the lives of Councillors but could greatly impact the lives of their children and grandchildren – he asked that the Councillors keep this in mind.
In the end, the motion was passed by a close vote of 15 in support and 12 against.
Given the demonstration outside City Hall, the tone of exchanges inside the chamber, and the growing national debate, Irish neutrality and the Triple Lock look set to be major issues in Irish politics in the coming years.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
