Cork Council sinks motion for Referendum on Neutrality
'It is only the Irish people who can dismantle our neutrality if desired.'
A Councillor phoned at 6pm with news of a vote on neutrality at Cork County Council. Earlier today, Cllr Peter O’Donoghue (Independent) tabled a motion seeking approval for a referendum on Irish neutrality.
His motion was defeated 35-17.
All members of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael voted against the motion.
“Make no mistake, those who opposed, (which included every Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael member present) voted against the Irish people having any say on our Military Neutrality,” Cllr O’Donoghue said.
In his speech delivered to the chamber, the north Cork councillor spoke about a booklet posted to Irish households in September 2002, ahead of the Nice Treaty Referendum. Cllr O’Donoghue quoted then Minister for Defence Michael Smith in the booklet, ‘The Nice Treaty Guide.’
“As Minister of Defence, I am particularly pleased that our traditional neutrality has been underpinned through the Saville Declarations and that our participation in any future peacekeeping and humanitarian missions of the EUs common foreign and security policy must be mandated by the UN and approved by the government and Dail Eireann. As it should be, our neutrality remains in the control of the people, who are the only ones who can change this through a referendum.”
Twenty three years later, Minister for Defence Simon Harris is preparing a new Defence Bill to put before the Dail.
The motion Cllr O’Donoghue proposed is below. Readers will remember this councillor from a previous motion for an inquiry into Ireland’s excess deaths, (also put to a vote in the chamber and voted down.)
“That Cork County Council would write to the leader of the Seanad, Senator Sean Kyne, to Taoiseach Michael Martin, to Tánaiste Simon Harris and to the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins and remind these, who are the leaders of the Oireachtas, that Irelands military neutrality is assured under the Irish Constitution as a result of the Nice Treaty Referendum, and insist that any changes to our nations position of military neutrality, such as the elimination of the triple lock (which was introduced by the people as part of the Nice Treaty Referendum) must be first ratified by the people of Ireland in a referendum.”
The motion today attracted much debate and cross party support but ultimately failed.
“All those who support Irish Military Neutrality must now work together to ensure the protection of our Neutrality and ensure this Fine Gael/ Fianna Fáil government does not succeed in eliminating it,” Cllr O’Donoghue said.
I am sharing the full text of his speech below, which I think serves as a useful and timely reminder of the historical promises made at the time of the Nice Treaty.
The motion was put forward today as Cllr O’Donoghue noted that a new Defence Bill was to be introduced this week ahead of the Dail recess on Thursday, but does not appear on the agenda for this week.
“It looks like the bill is postponed, but no doubt this Defence Bill will come up when the Dail resumes in September,” Cllr O’Donoghue said.
Speech delivered at Cork Council Chamber, Monday July 14 2025
In June of 2001 the Irish people rejected the Nice Treaty Referendum. This shocked many nations in Europe and was seen as a major embarrassment for the Irish government at the time. The main reason given for the Irish people rejecting the Nice Treaty Referendum was the fear that Ireland would lose its position of military neutrality and that the state would be amalgamated into a European common defence force. The thought of this happening was something which the Irish people would not accept.
The Irish government acknowledged the concerns the Irish people had and committed to resolving those concerns. Shortly after the Irish people had rejected the first Nice Treaty Referendum, EU leaders met in Seville on the 21 st and 22 nd of June to discuss the outcome of the Referendum. Out of this meeting came declarations known as the Seville declarations on the Treaty of Nice. The Irish state made 7 declarations at this meeting. These declarations were accepted by the other European nations.
The first and sixth declaration Ireland made was that Ireland reaffirms its attachment to the aims and principles of charter of the United Nations, which confers primary responsibility for the maintenance of International peace and security upon the United Nations Security Council. And Ireland reiterates that the participation of contingents of the Irish Defence Forces in overseas operations, including those carried out under the European security and defence policy, requires
(a) the authorisation of the operation by the security council or the general assembly of the United Nations,
(b) the agreement of the Irish government
(c) the approval of Dail Eireann in accordance with Irish law.
This declaration becoming effectively known as the “ triple lock”. In response to the Irish declaration, the European Council issued a declaration of its own. It recognised the right of Ireland (and all other member states) to decide in accordance with National Constitutions and laws whether and how to participate in any activities under the European Security and Defence Policy. The Irish government then Issued the Seville Declaration to the Irish people and declared that Ireland was going back to the ballot box to have a second Nice Treaty Referendum. This Referendum was to be held in October 2002.
In September 2002, just before the referendum, a booklet, “The Nice Treaty guide” was launched by Defence Minister Michael Smith and posted to every household in Ireland. The booklet and I quote Minister Smith “presents the facts of the Nice Treaty and contains the national and EU Declarations on Neutrality which were made in June at Seville and address areas which were previously of particular concern.”
Minister Smith goes onto say in this booklet, which remember, was posted to every household in Ireland days before the referendum:
“As Minister of Defence, I am particularly pleased that our traditional neutrality has been underpinned through the Saville Declarations and that our participation in any future peacekeeping and humanitarian missions of the EUs common foreign and security policy must be mandated by the UN and approved by the government and Dail Eireann. As it should be, our neutrality remains in the control of the people, who are the only ones who can change this through a referendum.”
Taoiseach Bertie Aherne also gave firm commitments in the lead up to the referendum in Dail Eireann, in relation to the Triple Lock. I quote:
“The National Declarations reaffirms Ireland’s attachment to its traditional policy of military neutrality and confirms: that Ireland is not party to any mutual defence commitment; that we are not party to any plans to develop a European army; and that we will take our own sovereign decision on whether Irish troops should participate in humanitarian or crisis management tasks mounted by the European Union based on the triple lock of UN endorsement, Government decision and Dáil approval.”
The second Nice Treaty Referendum was then held in October 2002, with it being passed by the Irish people. The guarantees of the Triple Lock Mechanism on Irish troop deployments undoubtedly playing a critical role in ensuring the 2 nd Nice Treaty Referendum was passed and also six years later ensuring the 2 nd Lisbon Treaty Referendum was passed, as similar concerns in regards to Irish Neutrality was raised in the lead up to the Lisbon Treaty, with again Taoiseach Brian Cowens, Fianna Fail government reiterating the triple lock commitment.
Role on to today, 23 years after The Nice Treaty, the commitments given by the previous Fianna fail Governments are being totally abandoned, but more worryingly the “copper fastened” constitutional guarantees given to the Irish people at the time are being totally ignored and dismissed.
Taoiseach Michael Martin himself was a member of the Fianna Fail government that adopted Irelands National declaration on the Triple lock. He was also a member of Brian Cowens Fianna Fail government during the Lisbon Treaty. He has referred to the Triple lock commitment over the years as a “core element” and “the very heart and soul” of Irelands Neutrality policy. But our Taoiseach has now done a complete U Turn, at this same time when EU leaders such as EU Commission President, Ursula Von Der Leyen, are openly speaking about working towards a stronger EU common defence, working more closely with NATO and spending up to E800 billion on the “Arm Europe” plan.
Our Taoiseach, as Minister for Defence, in the summer of 2023 convened “The Consultative Forum on International Security”, inviting high ranking military personal from varying military organisations across the world, including NATO, to the Forum, effectively advertising to these military organisations that Irelands neutrality is on the chopping block. He is also now, with Tánaiste and current Minister for Defence, Simon Harris, introducing a Defence Bill to Dail Eireann for the summer session legislation programme, which aims to eliminate the triple lock.
Now I understand that the Dail is to go into recess this coming Thursday and that the Bill is not on the agenda for this week, so it looks like the bill is postponed, but no doubt this Defence Bill will come up when the Dail resumes in September.
This Bill if passed, (which most likely will happen if allowed proceed, as the government has the majority), will be a total betrayal of every Irish citizen who trusted the commitments made by previous governments. It will also be a total betrayal of those who fought for Ireland to be a free and democratic, constitutional Republic as it will be totally undemocratic and totally unconstitutional.
Our Taoiseach Michael Martin does not have the power to remove the triple lock.
Our Tánaiste Simon Harris does not have the power to remove the triple lock.
Our President Michael D Higgins does not have the power to remove the triple lock.
It is only the Irish people who have that power.
It is only the Irish people who can dismantle our neutrality if desired.
The triple lock can only be removed the same way it was introduced, by a referendum of the people.
Today I ask my colleagues here in Cork County Council, especially those from the government parties, to support this motion, to voice your concerns, to let your leaders know and more importantly your constituents know that you do not accept your party leaders policy towards neutrality. Let them know that you believe in the constitutional Republic our ancestors fought for, you believe in Democracy, you believe in Bunreacht na HEireann and that you believe that any change to our military neutrality and specifically the triple lock must be made by the Irish people and the Irish people only.
Thank You.
Link to Interview on Facebook: Cllr Peter O’Donoghue and Anti Corruption Ireland
Thanks Louise. Great reporting as usual.
I'm not sure the majority of the Irish people ("is there really such a thing?" 🤮) care about much these days except material acquisition. I mean you would think there would be a revolution at this point?
It's not like the government hide their intentions.. Martin : "we've got to get rid of this backward idea of Irish sovereignty" and "we want to be in full compliance with the European framework" 🤮
We are in way more than a classic military pincer movement. We have been, and are continuing to be, attacked on multiple issues simultaneously. They have been going after us on every level, starting with the very core of being a unique entity, then through family, then community, then nation, then world, existence. They want to reverse that order so that world existence comes first. That way, they can control all the rest of it, reducing every single person to a mere gender-less, robotic, commodity.
They have so many tricks up their sleeves, contaminating every aspect of our living – mind, body and soul. They set us against each other in multiple ways. They have the playbook well in hand, their people in place, their agenda timed to a schedule. They are relentless and have been planning for years.
Waking up to that global view can be overwhelming as well as frightening. Those of us ‘awake’ for a while have had time to assimilate, adjust, process. Those newly awakened are getting the full dosage in one fell swoop as they try to understand.
Difficult enough, too, to come to terms with the betrayals of our own people in positions of treason. Especially when those people are in the media, who then in turn, select which information is made public/select who gets air time, while at the same time belittling and trying to isolate or ignore anyone who tries to get all of the information, or at least some real answers, out to the public.
And we’re all at different levels of understanding, which plays into the hands of their agenda. None of us is capable of being constantly aware of everything at once, every latest development, especially when so much of what is happening is behind our backs.
Even those of us who have been aware of this for some time can find it difficult to keep up sometimes. Its too heartbreaking. It can be too much. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has, on occasion, wanted to just hide under a rock. I’m not excusing those who are only recently aware, its just that I do understand how it can be overwhelming. Yesterday was one of those rock days for me. I wanted to shut my eyes, give up and eat myself into oblivion. Today I’m starting afresh and will keep going. And eat less.
Everything that is happening here in Ireland is personal to us. Just like its personal to all the other peoples and countries where its happening. That’s to keep us distracted of course. And, like in the other countries, our reactions have been understandably disjointed. Where, exactly, do we start? At what level can we reasonably put a stop to this? We can plug away at some of it, certainly, as we have been doing; work on taking personal responsibility, community, town, city, even country-wide responsibilities, but at some stage, we will need something else. And that starts with a vision. What is mine? What is yours? What is ours?