UN unfit for purpose

IT is very unfortunate that An Tánaiste’s proposal with regard to the ‘triple lock’ was soon to be overrun by the rioting in Dublin and An Taoiseach’s ‘lost and found’ phrase because he, Mr Martin, has raised a very important issue.

In 1960, when it was decided that Irish troops could only be sent abroad on missions backed by the UN – a cornerstone of our now ‘triple lock’ – the world was a very different place.

The UN, now badly ruptured and near stagnation, was then a fledgling organisation buoyed by the hopes and aspirations of those recovering from the trauma of the Second World War.

In comparison to our high international standing today, a then diffident Ireland barely registered on the barometer of international affairs and geostrategy.

With this in mind, Micheál Martin, in his role as Minister for Defence, is correct in seeking to remove the ‘triple lock’, or at the very least eliminate the United Nations as the sole key holder of this particular lock.

Unfortunately, the debate on the issue will be toned and misinformed by arguments pertaining to our neutrality, an indistinct policy which has been left open to the vagaries of ‘selfdefinition’ by individuals or groups of citizens.

The bottom line, however, must be that all citizens are no longer left open, not just to a Russian or Chinese veto, but to the assent of an organisation (the UN) that is no longer fit for purpose, as to how we as a sovereign State may wish to conduct our international affairs to the benefit of other nations and their citizens in an increasingly wretched world, where women and children especially are serially exposed to violation and death.

Michael Gannon (Colonel, retired),

Kilkenny city, Co. Kilkenny.