THERE’S been a row simmering all year in the south about the triple lock.

No, nothing to do with pensions. In the south the triple lock means – depending which side you’re on – a guarantee of neutrality, or a block on Ireland’s participation in peace-keeping, or, as others would put it, preventing “military adventurism”.

To remind you, the triple lock means that Ireland can’t deploy more than 12, yes 12, troops abroad unless approved by a government decision, a vote in the Dáil and – this is the current point of contention – a vote of the UN Security Council.

Micheál Martin and Fine Gael have been manoeuvring for a couple of years to ditch the UN provision and that’s now the government’s position.

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They argue that the Security Council is dysfunctional, with two or three of the five permanent members likely to veto any peace-keeping proposal for different reasons.

For example, the Irish peace-keeping mission in the Lebanon, UNIFIL, runs out at the end of the year after over 40 years. Its mandate won’t be renewed.

The government presented its bill to remove the UN requirement on Wednesday evening amid furious opposition which actually began on Tuesday, with opposition TDs holding up........

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