The Government's decision not to allow the Defence Forces to join the EU's rapid reaction force has been welcomed by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance and Sinn Féin.
The Minister for Defence, Mr O'Dea, said Irish soldiers could not take part in the EU battlegroups because UN sanction could not be arranged in time.
Before the second Nice Treaty referendum, the Government gave a guarantee that Irish troops would never be deployed abroad unless the UN approved the mission, along with the Government and the Oireachtas.
Last night, Peace and Neutrality Alliance spokesman Mr Roger Cole welcomed the Minister's announcement, though he said he had been surprised by it.
He said the "triple-lock" offered before the second Nice Treaty poll had been extremely important to the referendum's success. "But it is a guarantee offered by legislation. It is not in the Constitution."
However, Mr Cole disagreed with the Minister's belief that the triple-lock also blocked the deployment of Irish soldiers to humanitarian missions such as the tsunami crisis.
The Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin, Ms Mary Lou McDonald, said the party had "vehemently opposed" the battle groups, "which served the purpose of Europe's military and economic elites, and sidelined the UN".
