Save The Triple Lock Petition
The Irish People were Guaranteed the Triple Lock. Let the Irish People Decide.
The People of Ireland Voted for The Triple Lock - Let The People Decide on It’s Removal
We believe that the Government should allow the people to decide whether the Triple Lock should be retained or removed.
We therefore call on the Government to hold a referendum on the future of the Triple Lock and on the President and the relevant constitutional authorities to consider every available constitutional avenue, including Article 27 where its requirements can be met.
Article 27 provides a mechanism for a Bill deemed to contain a proposal of such national importance that the will of the people ought to be ascertained to be referred to the people through the constitutional process. It requires a prescribed petition by members of the Oireachtas and a decision by the President; this public petition does not itself trigger that process.
This is about democracy, accountability and the right of the Irish people to determine the future of Irish neutrality.
Full Text of The Save The Triple Lock Petition
The Irish People were Guaranteed the Triple Lock. Let the Irish People Decide.
We, the Irish people, call on the Irish Government to support a joint-petition to the President under Article 27 of the Irish Constitution. This joint-petition will enable the President to call a referendum on the proposed removal of Ireland’s Triple Lock for the Irish Defence Forces to operate in overseas operations, which we believe to be of paramount national importance.
The Triple Lock was not an incidental detail in Ireland’s debates on European treaties. It was an important safeguard in the guarantees given to the Irish people on military neutrality. If the Government now wants to remove that safeguard, the people who were given those guarantees deserve the right to decide.
After the people rejected the Nice Treaty in 2001, EU leaders met in Seville to discuss the outcome of the rejected Nice Treaty. As a result, in June 2022, the Seville Declaration on the Treaty of Nice, explicitly guaranteed the Triple Lock, as a safeguard to Irish neutrality.
The Triple Lock, which guarantees the participation of the Irish Defence Forces to operate in overseas operations requires a) the authorisation of the Security Council or General Assembly of the United Nations b) the agreement of the Irish Government and c) the approval of Dáil Éireann, in accordance with Irish law.
Although not explicitly stated in the Lisbon Treaty, similar guarantees featured in the debates surrounding the treaty by Government representatives.
This is an issue of paramount national importance. The Triple Lock is central to Ireland’s military neutrality. It is of paramount national importance because it symbolises national independence, protects the country from foreign wars and builds on the longstanding gold standard international reputation of Irish peacekeepers and for Ireland as honest brokers in international foreign, security and defence policy.
The Irish people adopted the Nice and Lisbon Treaties in the context of the Triple Lock guarantee. We believe that the Irish Government should respect those guarantees and allow the people to decide on this issue of national importance.
We therefore call on the Irish Government, should the Defence Amendment Bill (2026) pass both Houses of the Oireachtas, to support a joint -petition under Article 27 of the Constitution to enable the President to refer this issue of national importance to the people for them to decide on the future of the Triple Lock by way of an ordinary referendum.
This is about democracy, accountability and the right of the Irish people to determine the future of the Triple Lock, as a central tenet of Irish neutrality. If the Government believes that removing the Triple Lock is the right decision, it should have the confidence to put that decision to the people for them to decide. Supporting this petition does not itself trigger the process for a referendum, but will exert political pressure on Government to initiate the Article 27 process by demonstrating the support of the Irish people for the Triple Lock.
We encourage you to support this petition.