The Irish Government is right to seek to change the triple lock (by which Government, Dáil, and UN approval are needed to send more than 12 Irish soldiers abroad). We must live in the here and now, and not continue to hope that things will improve. Our policies and procedures must  reflect this new reality.

The idea that we would allow authoritarian dictators, like Putin and Xi, to have a de-facto veto on Irish participation in peacekeeping missions across the world is demeaning to our status as a mature, stable democracy.

I can already imagine the same old arguments from the Irish left, claiming that this is a first step on a slippery slope to joining NATO, and to ending Ireland’s long-standing policy of military neutrality.

The two are in no way connected, and it is disingenuous to claim otherwise. Neutrality means that Ireland is not part of any military alliance. Ireland amending its own rules as to how, why, and when members of Óglaigh na hÉireann can deploy on overseas peacekeeping missions has nothing got to do with our neutrality. Reactionary, left-wing politicians should desist from conflating the two issues. It is insulting to the intelligence of our people.

As the Tánaiste stated, every Irish mission will still be fully consistent with the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. This has been the hallmark of our country’s activities on the global stage since we joined the UN in 1955. Future missions will be initiated after either receiving a request from other multi-lateral organisations, such as the EU or the African Union, or following a request from an individual country.

However, what really galls me about the criticism of this policy change is the idea that certain left-wing politicians, as members of Dáil Éireann, don’t trust themselves and their colleagues to make a decision in the best interests of Ireland and its Defence Forces.

Sadly, I believe every utterance  by the usual gang of neutrality hawks comes from a very simple place: they intensely dislike the US and the West, and view every issue as binary. If the US is possibly involved, then we must be on the opposite side, is their logic.

We are a sovereign, democratic state, with a strong separation of powers. I do not believe we have anything to fear from making the decision ourselves and taking back the power from authoritarian states like Russia and China.

We are one of the longest continuing democracies on the continent of Europe, with a representative and proportional parliament. Who do they think will be making these decisions? Hawkish, right-wing warmongers or the members of Dáil Éireann, who are very much in touch with the Irish people?

Let’s call a spade a spade. No Irish government will be formed that does not contain at least two, but more than likely three, parties. There will be a mix of centre left, centrist, and centre-ight parties. Future coalition governments in Ireland will reflect the broad will of the Dáil, and, crucially, I believe, the Irish people’s longstanding support for military neutrality.

Very few, if any, countries tie their hands behind their back, and give an effective veto to the likes of Russia and China (as well as France, the UK, and the US) about decisions of national security policy. We should be confident in our own abilities to make informed decisions on where and when we deploy members of our Defence Forces.

Let’s not be lacking in confidence about our abilities to make the right decision. If we can trust our TDs and our Government to make decisions about taxes and spending, then surely we can trust them to decide when and how to deploy our troops as peacekeepers?

If we can’t, then we have an even bigger problem as a country.

• Billy Kelleher is a Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South constituency