{"id":547639,"date":"2026-06-22T03:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/547639\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T03:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:28:19","slug":"plans-to-scrap-triple-lock-constitute-fundamental-change-to-fianna-fail-policy-party-told-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/547639\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans to scrap triple lock constitute \u2018fundamental change\u2019 to Fianna F\u00e1il policy, party told \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Government plans to scrap the triple lock<\/a> constitute a \u201cfundamental change\u201d to Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> policy, a group of party backbenchers have said.<\/p>\n

The reform of the triple lock, which is a key plank being pushed by the Government and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>, may now be the next battleground in ongoing tensions between Martin and his internal party critics. <\/p>\n

A letter authored by Limerick City TD Willie O\u2019Dea<\/a> and sent to the party in advance of its regular meeting this week outlines that the changes to the legislation should be discussed \u201cas a matter of urgency\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is in view of the fact that this constitutes a fundamental change in traditional Fianna F\u00e1il policy as enunciated in successive ardfheiseanna, policy manifestos, public statements etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

It goes on: \u201cThe \u2018Triple Lock\u2019 was also a central factor in enabling the Government to persuade the Irish people to support the Nice and Lisbon referendums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cabinet this month approved the text of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2026, which would remove the need for the approval of the United Nations<\/a> Security Council to deploy more than 12 Irish Defence Forces personnel overseas. <\/p>\n

Any future deployment would require only the approval of the Government and the Oireachtas<\/a>, should the Bill be enacted. <\/p>\n

The Government argues that the step is necessary to prevent permanent members of the UN Security Council, including China, the US and Russia, having an effective veto on troop deployments.<\/p>\n

Signatories of the letter include O\u2019Dea and Donegal TD Pat the Cope Gallagher, although it is understood that about a dozen or more TDs have signed the letter. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Why has Simon Harris changed his tune on a united Ireland?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Minister of State Thomas Byrne<\/a> is to brief the parliamentary party this week on the Government\u2019s plans on the triple lock as the leadership seeks to quell concerns among the party\u2019s rank and file. <\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il backbenchers, speaking privately, were critical of how Martin has handled the debate over the triple lock, with one saying there had never been a \u201creasoned explanation on the need for change\u201d. <\/p>\n

A second said there was \u201cunrest\u201d in the party over it, while a third said a cohort of the parliamentary party planned to make the case for \u201cwhy we shouldn\u2019t dismantle the triple lock\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to RT\u00c9\u2019s This Week programme on Sunday, Minister for Defence Helen McEntee<\/a> would not be drawn on the agenda for the Fianna F\u00e1il meeting, but the Fine Gael minister said the reform was \u201cabsolutely essential\u201d and there was \u201cno ambiguity\u201d on what was agreed in the programme for Government on the triple lock. <\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il TD for Dublin North West, Paul McAuliffe, who is party whip, confirmed the request was received on Friday. He said it was important to say that Byrne had held a number of meetings to discuss policy issues in his office<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we are bound by the Manifesto and the programme for Government, which promised reform of the triple lock, but it is important that members are fully aware of the details of any such reforms or at least the direction of travel in advance of any legislation that might come later in the year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The programme for Government commits to reforming the triple lock legislation while also ensuring amendments to the legislation are in keeping with Irish values and the policy of active military neutrality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Government plans to scrap the triple lock constitute a \u201cfundamental change\u201d to Fianna F\u00e1il policy, a group of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,9217,18,13,14,4771,3428,6,14370,19,17,11,12,15,16,5765,5,95430,7,8,2863,111438],"class_list":["post-547639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-defence-forces","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-fianna-fail","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-helen-mcentee","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-thomas-byrne","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-united-nations-un","tag-willie-odea"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116791640368618783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}