Neutrality Roadshow is coming to Louth

Neutrality Roadshow is coming to Dundalk as part of an Ireland wide series of events, warning of what they say is the danger to Irish neutrality if the government dismantles the Triple Lock

On 27th May the Neutrality Roadshow will host a community led event in An Táin Arts Centre.

The event will take place at 7pm and will feature speakers including Eoghan McNeill, investigative journalist from the Ditch, and seasoned peace activists Niamh Ní Bhriain and Fionn Wallace.

A spokesperson for the group said:

“In March, the government brought legislation to Cabinet to dismantle the Triple Lock, a mechanism that regulates the deployment of Irish Defence Forces overseas.

“From 25th March to 10th April, 139 Irish troops participated in a German-led EU Battlegroup training exercise in Hungary, in preparation for deployment to ‘conflicts and crises’ outside the EU. 

“While training exercises are permitted under the Defence Act, deployment on overseas missions without a UN mandate is not. If the Triple Lock is dismantled, Irish troops may be deployed, not to keep the peace, but to engage in conflict as part of an EU Battlegroup or potentially a NATO-led mission.

“Since the foundation of the state, Irish troops have only served overseas on UN mandated missions. Removing the Triple Lock will fundamentally change the character of Ireland’s engagement with the world. It may also make Ireland a target for attack if Irish troops become embroiled in future wars overseas.

“The Roadshow is a grassroots people-led initiative that is not affiliated with any political party. It will see local communities host speakers from diverse backgrounds including peace activists and anti-war campaigners, former peace-keepers, legal scholars, academics, writers, and artists. It forms part of a broader campaign launched earlier this year to keep Ireland neutral and save the Triple Lock.”

Former UN peacekeeper, Edward Horgan, said:

“While the world has lost a peacemaker with the death of Pope Francis, there are no shortages of potential war-makers in Europe and internationally. In Ireland our political leaders continue to erode our active neutrality by abandoning the Triple Lock, failing to pass the Occupied Territories Bill, providing military and financial support for Ukraine in its war with Russia and appeasing the US Trump administration in its global economic war.”

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Mothers Against Genocide member, Clare O’ Connor said:

“I have two children and I didn’t bring them into this world for them to be used as weapons of war, to be conscripted into war to kill other people’s children or be killed themselves. If we don't save the Triple Lock, it won't be us as parents sent off to war, it will be our children. We owe it to them to take a stronger stance to protect our neutrality”

Professor Ray Murphy of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway said:

“In order to protect our military neutrality and support the UN’s role in the maintenance of international peace and security, it is essential to maintain the Triple Lock.”