Jim Duffy The triple lock always has been insane.


All other neutrals think it nuts. How can a country that gives an effective veto on the use of its military to the US, Russia, China, France and the UK possibly think itself sovereign?

In every other sovereign state, parliament or government or a combination of both always decide on the use of a sovereign's country's military, as they are accountable to the voters. Some UN members with vetoes, notably China, Russia and the US under Trump, aren't even accountable to their own voters let alone Ireland's. Nor do they obey the UN charter. Trump despises it. Putin routinely breaks it.
 
In reality the existing model of peace-keeping is dead. Both Putin and Trump has made it clear that as part of their campaign to destroy the UN that they will veto all attempts at creating peace-keeping forces. Trump reluctantly let UNIFIL continue for a short time and that it was the last time - even if the result is a middle east war.

Not a single other country has something like the triple lock. Even our fellow neutrals think it is laughable rubbish, and utterly incompatible with national sovereignty. It may not even be constitutional, as the constitution specifically limits defence to the Oireachtas and the Government. Giving the UN veto powers the right to override the decision of the Oireachtas and the Government is almost certainly unconstitutional.
 
Nor is it remotely linked to neutrality. For most of Ireland's neutrality, the triple lock did not exist. For the first sixteen years, Ireland wasn't even in the UN.

⏩ Jim Duffy is a writer-historian.

Good Riddance

Jim Duffy The triple lock always has been insane.


All other neutrals think it nuts. How can a country that gives an effective veto on the use of its military to the US, Russia, China, France and the UK possibly think itself sovereign?

In every other sovereign state, parliament or government or a combination of both always decide on the use of a sovereign's country's military, as they are accountable to the voters. Some UN members with vetoes, notably China, Russia and the US under Trump, aren't even accountable to their own voters let alone Ireland's. Nor do they obey the UN charter. Trump despises it. Putin routinely breaks it.
 
In reality the existing model of peace-keeping is dead. Both Putin and Trump has made it clear that as part of their campaign to destroy the UN that they will veto all attempts at creating peace-keeping forces. Trump reluctantly let UNIFIL continue for a short time and that it was the last time - even if the result is a middle east war.

Not a single other country has something like the triple lock. Even our fellow neutrals think it is laughable rubbish, and utterly incompatible with national sovereignty. It may not even be constitutional, as the constitution specifically limits defence to the Oireachtas and the Government. Giving the UN veto powers the right to override the decision of the Oireachtas and the Government is almost certainly unconstitutional.
 
Nor is it remotely linked to neutrality. For most of Ireland's neutrality, the triple lock did not exist. For the first sixteen years, Ireland wasn't even in the UN.

⏩ Jim Duffy is a writer-historian.

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