Ten days ago the Irish government outlined its plans for ‘priority’ legislation this year: 30 bills.

Some are controversial, none more so than the Defence Bill which proposes to abolish the so-called ‘triple lock’ on sending Irish troops abroad.

The triple lock has been in place since the second Nice referendum in 2002, which gave the government an opt-out from common EU defence.

No more than 12 (sic) Irish military can be sent abroad on a mission without the consent of the Irish government, Oireachtas Éireann and the UN Security Council.

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The government argues that in practice this arrangement makes it impossible to send a mission abroad, because deadlock in the Security Council with some of the permanent members using their veto has meant there have been no new peacekeeping missions since 2014.

All the opposition parties in the Dáil oppose the removal of the triple lock. Polls support them.

Opponents argue that what’s really at stake is Ireland’s neutrality, an argument that has credibility.

They also ask why is the government so keen to send Irish troops abroad? Is it really because they want the Republic involved in EU military operations? Is it because they want to join any European army that is created?

There has been a concerted........

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