UN veto on Irish troop missions dominates security forum
Richardson Micheal The Galway Lawless And Of As Tánaiste Forum University Stand Martin Protesters International Louise Policy Chairwoman At Professor Consultative Forum Brian Security Attend On Picture:
Irish Governments should have the power to send troops abroad to deal with a humanitarian crisis without requiring UN approval, the former deputy head of the Defence Forces has said.
Retired major general Kieran Brennan, who commanded a number of peacekeeping missions, made the comment at a contested debate on the issue at the Forum on International Security Policy.
Fellow panellist and former member of the Defence Forces Declan Power said that, as an Irish citizen, he could not stand over handing over the decision on whether or not to send Irish troops abroad to the UN Security Council, saying it gave an opportunity to “totalitarian states to dictate what we do and where we go”.
But the so-called “triple lock” system for the deployment of Irish troops overseas — approval by the Government, the Oireachtas, and the UN — was strongly defended by Professor Ray Murphy, attached to the Irish Centre for Human Rights at University of Galway.
The barrister and former army officer said the triple lock was a “commitment made to the Irish people” in voting for a second time on an EU treaty and said people would consider reneging on that a “betrayal” of that promise.
The two panels in the morning session were repeatedly interrupted by people shouting and heckling panel moderators and speakers, and included a person who took a vacant podium and read out a prepared speech.
Mr Brennan, former deputy chief of staff, who served on UN missions in Lebanon, Kosovo and Chad, said he believed the “dynamic has changed” and said that in the near future an Irish Government could be faced with a situation where a humanitarian crisis might erupt, for example in the Balkans.
"We are providing 182 troops to a German [EU] Battlegroup next year and if the EU want to use that instrument to combat a severe humanitarian crisis...we cannot do so without a UN Security Council resolution," he said.
"I do believe we’re now in a different space and we should be mature enough to be able to reflect on that and be able to decide, yes, we need to intervene on humanitarian grounds.”
The panel heard that any one of the Security Council’s 'Permanent Five' — the US, Russia, China, UK, and France — can veto peacekeeping missions.
Shamala Kandish Thompson of the independent Security Council Report said she was aware of two occasions where the veto was used on proposed missions — one by China on a resolution involving Macedonia and another by Russia on a resolution involving Georgia.
She added that in the last couple of years, there have been “threats of the veto” and pointed out that there has been no new UN missions since 2014, but she was not convinced that was because of fear of the veto.
Prof Murphy said that if Ireland acted outside the UN, it “weakened the organisation” and said the triple lock was a “commitment made to the Irish people” in the voting of an EU treaty and said people might consider reneging on that "a betrayal".
Sinn Féin TD Réada Cronin said that without neutrality being enshrined in the Constitution, no attempt should be made to go near the triple lock.
"I think the people really wouldn't trust the Government to get rid of the triple lock without that," she said.