Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris has said he does not believe a reformed Triple Lock would impact Ireland's policy of military neutrality.
The General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 would remove the need for UN Security Council and General Assembly approval when deploying more than 12 members of the Defence Forces overseas when they are serving as part of an international force.
The draft legislation will be examined over a period of eight weeks, after which a bill will be sent for Government approval.
The proposal has faced strong criticism from across the Opposition benches, amid concerns that it will undermine Ireland's long-standing military neutrality.
However, Mr Harris said it should be up to the people of Ireland to decide where Irish peacekeepers are deployed.
"That’s how our democracy works, how many neutral countries work. The Triple Lock is not the norm in other neutral countries."
Independent TD Catherine Connolly said that Taoiseach Micheál Martin once called the Triple Lock a "fundamental part and the core of our neutrality".
"Perhaps you should talk to him about that, when did that change?" she suggested.
Social Democrats TD Sinead Gibney said that she was struck by the draft legislation's "apparent lack of human rights monitoring mechanisms".
Mr Harris responded by saying that the UN charter would be "at the heart" of the reformed legislation which will be guided by governing principles.
He said that he is open to strengthening those principles if needed, and told the Dáil that he is "very open to working across the house" on the legislation.
'A celestial military neutrality'
A panel of academics shared their concerns over any removal of the Triple Lock with the Committee on Defence and National Security.
Dr Karen Devine of Dublin City University said that "the EU form of militarism is not subject to transparency or oversight".
She accused the Government of breaking the social contract, and insisted that the Triple Lock is a part of the State's "active neutrality", garnering the support of four in every five citizens.
Dr Devine urged that the "legal implications" be examined before the Triple Lock is revoked, as it could amount to "pulling on a thread that could actually lead to the legal unravelling of the EU".
Prof John Maguire of University College Cork warned that Ireland's "informal co-optation with the EU - NATO strategic partnership forged links of power concealed from public scrutiny" and has "almost hollowed out" the country's neutrality.
He said that Ireland now has "a celestial military neutrality" which "has camouflaged developments bringing us to the threshold of hell on earth".
Prof Maguire asked: "Does Irish foreign policy still belong to the Irish people?".
Dr Devine also dismissed Government claims of "principle based pragmatism" as "word play" which actually means that the Coalition does not "want to adhere to international law".
'Take a punt'
Speaking in the Dáil, Labour TD Duncan Smith said that he did not believe that peacekeeping outside the UN was something that the Government should "take a punt on".
"There is a process of reform ongoing in the UN, I think we should be leading on that."
Simon Harris said the geopolitical situation has evolved "extraordinarily rapidly" in the last number of years.
He asked what Ireland would do if the UN did not renew the mandate under which Ireland's "brave men and women serving in Lebanon" operate.
What if one of the permanent members, "Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin", or an Elon Musk-driven cost savings measure, led to a veto on the mission, he asked.
"Would it be the view of the opposition that those peacekeepers should come home?"
Mr Harris said he believes should that happen, those peacekeepers should remain in place.
