Galway County Council · Minutes of Monthly Meeting of Galway County Council, Monday, 24 November 2025 · 24 November 2025
A vote on Councillor McNamara's motion opposing the Government's intention to abolish or amend the Triple Lock on overseas deployment of the Defence Forces, and calling for any such change to be put to the people in a referendum.
Summary written by AI from the minutes. The motion as recorded follows.
“That this Council expresses its strong opposition to the Government's intention to abolish or amend the Triple Lock, which governs the overseas deployment of Irish Defence Forces personnel. The Triple Lock — requiring approval of the Cabinet, Dáil Éireann, and a United Nations mandate — has been a core safeguard of Irish neutrality since its introduction as part of the Solemn Declaration (Seville Declaration) following Ireland’s rejection of the Nice Treaty in 2001 and reaffirmed after the Lisbon Treaty. Any move to remove or weaken this safeguard would represent a breach of trust with the Irish people and a serious erosion of Ireland's neutrality. Accordingly, this Council call on the Government that any proposal to abolish or amend the Triple Lock be put to the People of Ireland by way of referendum, ensuring that the Irish people remain the ultimate decision-maker on this matter. If adopted, this motion is to be forwarded to the Taoiseach, Tánasite, and Minister for Defence.
Proposed by Cllr. McNamara.
The minutes record: A vote was taken on the motion. The following was the result: For 12 Against 12 Abstain 3 No-Voting 12 The Meetings Administrator confirmed there was an equal division of votes. As per Standing Orders the Cathaoirleach exercised his casting vote and reiterated that he was voting against the motion. As the Cathaoirleach’s vote was the casting vote the motion was not carried.
| Party | Tá | Níl | Staon | Didn't vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fine Gael | 0 | 10 | 1 | 3 |
| Fianna Fáil | 4 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Independent Ireland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Independent | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Sinn Féin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tá, Níl and Staon are the minutes’ for, against and abstained. “Didn’t vote” covers councillors on the council that day whom the minutes don’t list under any option, for any reason. Parties are as of the meeting day.