Reforming the “triple lock” system to remove the veto the United Nations Security Council in effect has over the deployment of Irish peacekeepers on new missions is about taking back “our sovereignty”, Helen McEntee has said.
Under the present system, no more than 12 Irish soldiers can be sent into battle zones without the permission of the Government, the Dáil and the UN.
The Government is bringing forward legislation that would end the requirement for a UN mandate.
Speaking on Monday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said she wanted to move quickly on getting the draft legislation passed by the Oireachtas.
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The Government has complained that the present system allowed permanent members of the UN security council – which includes Russia, China and the United States – to veto any proposal to establish new peacekeeping missions by the international organisation.
Ms McEntee said reforming the so-called “triple lock” on overseas deployments of the Defence Forces would not weaken Ireland’s policy of military neutrality.
“It is quite simply the case at the moment that any one of five permanent members can veto and prevent any new peacekeeping missions from taking place, and because of that veto there has not been a new peacekeeping mission since 2014,” she said.
“I think we need to take back our sovereignty in that regard. We need to take back our ability to be able to deploy our troops on the ground in parts of the world that need their expertise.”
The long-standing UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil, is set to be wound down after next year following opposition from the US and Israel to the mission being extended.
Ms McEntee said the Government had to be in a position where it could decide where to deploy peacekeepers itself.
“We have a long-standing history, and a history we’re very proud of, providing peacekeeping troops on the ground. We should be able to continue that ourselves without others being able to veto it,” she said.
A spokesman for the Department of Defence said the legislation to reform the triple lock was still being drafted.
The proposed legislation “will be published and debated by both Houses of the Oireachtas in early 2026”, he said.
The changes would allow Irish troops to be deployed overseas, for example either as peacekeepers or to arrange the evacuation of Irish citizens from conflicts, on the agreement of the Government and Dáil.
Ms McEntee was speaking in Brussels before attending a meeting of the European Union’s 27 foreign ministers.
She reiterated Ireland’s support for a plan to use Russian state cash, frozen in Europe by economic sanctions after Moscow invaded Ukraine, to fund a €90 billion loan to Kyiv.
The Belgian government opposes the so-called reparations loan for fear of the legal and political fallout, as the assets are frozen in Euroclear, a securities depository in Belgium.
An injection of significant funding from European allies is seen as crucial to shoring up Ukraine’s defences on the battlefield. Kyiv is projected to start to run short of cash by the middle of next year.
An alternative to using the “frozen” Russian assets is for EU states to jointly fund a loan for Ukraine by borrowing money on the market themselves.
A decision on whether to tap the frozen Russian assets is expected at an EU summit of leaders starting on Thursday.
“The reparations loan is the way that we see that as best moving forward,” Ms McEntee said. Europe had to show it still stood squarely behind Ukraine, the Fine Gael minister said.
“I understand the concerns that member states have raised, but it is absolutely essential that we send a very strong signal,” she said.
