The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence has said that he does not believe a referendum is necessary to change the Triple Lock.
Simon Harris was facing questions in the Dáil this morning, when members of the Opposition called for a referendum on the issue.
The Government has committed to the issue of changing the Triple Lock to a Double Lock, by removing the requirement of the support of the UN Security Council to deploy more than 12 Irish peacekeeping troops overseas.
Minister Harris said: “I don’t believe we run back to the Irish people with a referendum on every piece of legislation … this is not an attempt to change Ireland’s position on military neutrality, it is an issue to change how we dispatch peacekeeping troops overseas.”
“In parallel to removing the UN mandate requirement, text will be included in [the proposed] bill, which will require the mandate of future operations be consistent with and adhere to the principles of the UN Charter and international law,” Mr Harris said.
The Tánaiste said he accepted that he would never reach agreement with Sinn Féin on the broad policy, but he was “determined to bring forward legislation in this area”.
He said he expected to have the bill ready “within this year”.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the results of the recent Presidential Election showed that the majority of the Irish people want to retain the Triple Lock.
Paul Murphy said the result of the Presidential Election indicated how people felt about the issue
“One candidate supported the Triple Lock, the other candidate opposed it, and the candidate who defended the Triple Lock got 63% of the vote,” he said.
Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said rather than relying on the result of the Presidential Election, which he described as “the best parameter we have,” he said “there is a better way of defining public opinion, if you are so willing, we are certainly willing to put this to the people and have a clear question asked of them and get a clear answer.”
Minister Harris said he was “very happy to tease through the detail in relation to the UN Charter and how the legislation can look at it”.
But he said he believed the majority of the Irish people “will come with us in relation to this issue” saying they can differentiate between military neutrality and reducing the Triple Lock to a Double Lock.