Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Helen McEntee, has said that she wants the legislation to remove the Triple Lock to be published by Easter.

Her statement came after additional amendments to the Government’s decision to abolish the Triple Lock were brought forward on Tuesday. They included a requirement for where Irish troops are deployed, the legal basis for each deployment and whether missions are meeting their stated objectives. 

“Our intention is to take back our own decision-making process,” she told Emmet Oliver. 

“We haven’t been able to partake because there hasn’t been a new mission agreed since 2014.

“I want this legislation moved as quickly as possible. I’m hoping to have it published by Easter and to see it enacted throughout this year.”

Speaking on The Anton Savage Show, she cited the imminent end of the Irish Peacekeeping mission deployed in Lebanon since 1978 and the possibility of its expansion as a key motivator to push the legislation.

“While the mission is finishing at the end of this year, there is still a huge amount of work that needs to be done to support the Lebanese authority on the ground.

“We’re still looking to see if there is a way in which we can continue to deploy troops there. Our whole focus in Ukraine is to get to a point where there is a ceasefire and a peace process in place. If there was to be an agreement for a form of peacekeeping mission, we would need a legal basis for this.”

She reiterated that the end of Triple Lock would not compromise Irish neutrality but would simply “change the process by which Ireland mandates its troops to engage in peacekeeping missions.”

From troops on the ground, intelligence gathering, training missions and, missions relating to cybersecurity - she explained that Ireland was in no position to currently consider them.

“The world is changing, there are very complex issues emerging and there are more challenging issues emerging in other countries. 

“If we needed to deploy troops in a very quick manner to either support people abroad to assist citizens and take them out from countries abroad, if we don't have that mandate, that's not something that our troops can do.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

On the matter of defense, the minister was asked whether she felt like Irish troops were sufficiently ready and equipped to go on such peacekeeping missions. 

She noted that while the country didn’t currently have everything it needs, it is continuously being invested in and planned for in capital and numbers. 

“In Ireland, given our geographical location, the fact that we're surrounded by water, we're very conscious that what happens in our skies and what happens in our seas is something that we need to be very alert to.

“The major focus now is what our radar or sonar capability is.”

She noted that while President Zelenky’s arrival in Dublin drew considerable attention due to the detection of drones, their use did not prompt the closure of airspace. 

“People are focusing on the fact that there were drones at the time of President Zelensky's visit.

“But what's maybe not been spoken of is the fact that this was a successful visit, that the drones did not in any way impact the overall flight pattern, that there was no closing of airspace and that President Zelensky's visit came and went without any impact.”

Main Image: PA Media.