The time for Ireland's Triple Lock system is 'well and truly gone', according to Gerard Craughwell.
The Independent Senator was speaking after the Tánaiste said he favoured reform of the system.
It means Ireland can only deploy members of the Defence Forces if it has the permission of the United Nations, the Government and the Oireachtas.
“I have publicly said that I believe it needs to be changed,” Micheál Martin said earlier.
“Why? Because we now have as part of the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council [countries] - particularly Russia - who are unlikely to approve peacekeeping missions.
“So, are we essentially saying Russia should have a veto on Ireland’s peacekeeping missions in the future? That’s a very real possibility".
Senator Craughwell told The Hard Shoulder the current system also gives the UK a say in Irish affairs.
"I see no purpose in the Triple Lock," he said.
"We survived for 80-odd years of our country's independence without a Triple Lock.
"The Triple Lock was brought in in the early 2000s, I suppose to get over a few political problems at the time.
"It's ironic really that states like Russia, like the former colonist the UK, like the United States can have a veto over what we as a sovereign state want to do.
"I think the time for the Triple Lock is well and truly gone".
'Reform of the United Nations'
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said it is not the Triple Lock which needs reform.
"We should reform the United Nations, for sure," he said.
"It is completely wrong that five of the biggest military powers in the world... they all have rotten records all over the world.
"So the idea [that] they dominate the UN is absolutely wrong - but isn't it interesting that it's only now that the Irish Government have decided there's a problem?
"When the United States vetoes resolutions that would sanction Israel, for example, over illegal occupation of Palestinian territory - not a word said.
"When the Americans sell masses of weapons to the Saudi dictatorship - silence.
"But when somebody that the United States and the European Union are in a conflict with - namely Vladimir Putin - suddenly they've found a moral conscience," he added.
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