T here has been an increased push to dismantle the Triple Lock, the legal mechanism requiring three layers of approval before more than 12 Irish troops can be deployed anywhere overseas. Coinciding with this, there’s rising pressure for Ireland to involve itself with the North American and European military alliance, NATO. As this unfolds, arms lobbyists have been swooping in to ramp up activities in Ireland, ingratiating themselves with the government, expanding their presence in media and embedding themselves within communities.
One example is last year’s Bray Air Display, which billed Lockheed Martin as its corporate sponsor. That was short-lived, as public backlash ensued, and the weapons manufacturer was promptly ejected from the lineup. Though thwarted, these activities serve one purpose: to help acclimate the Irish public to the normalisation of war.
Armament is a key priority for the European Union right now, with the bloc investing €800 billion (yes, billion) in the ‘ReArm Europe’ strategy that sets out to prime the EU for war. It’s an incomprehensible sum of money, particularly as the EU is gripped by multiple crises right now, including the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and now the fuel crisis (a direct result of war).
Across the Atlantic, the United States has similarly been amping things up, as seen through its aggression to Iran and Venezuela in the first half of the year. At the time of writing this, the US is currently involved in six different wars, and Ireland has found itself sandwiched between these imperial behemoths.
As the tide of the US and the EU threaten to drag Ireland out of its neutrality and into rough seas of warfare, it’s crucial to resist now, rather than when it’s too late. It’s in all LGBTQ+ people’s interests to reject militarism and oppose the indiscriminate murder of civilians and the invasion of sovereign nations.
Outside of the human cost (which is reprehensible in itself), militarism is an attack on the planet. It’s estimated that militaries worldwide account for 5.5 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, a study by Penn State University revealed that the US military is the world’s largest polluter.
As the threat of Ireland abandoning neutrality grows, a group called Saints and Scholars started meeting on a bi-weekly basis in Dublin to help individuals educate themselves on the impact of war, while exploring ways to campaign to protect the Triple Lock.
The environmental impact is one of many topics the “social club for socialists” has discussed since its foundation a year ago. Other sessions have offered an explainer on what NATO is, why it was established and why Ireland should avoid joining; as well as the pinkwashing of militaries and the rise of homonationalism (the selective acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in order to promote a nationalist ideology).
Beyond the catastrophic damage that war wreaks on human life and the planet, it’s important for the LGBTQ+ community to remember that militarism is antithetical to queerness.
It is an attack on bodily autonomy. It’s in direct opposition to queer and trans liberation, both in the countries that are invaded, as well as on the home soil of the invaders. Militarism represents everything that queer and trans activism stands against: it upholds and enforces narrow gender norms, while facilitating sexual violence and glorifying heteronormativity.
Ultimately, we can also expect to see the state-sanctioned violence that is central to militarism directed towards marginalised groups, as has historically been the case.
At present, Europe is witnessing appallingly violent suppression of pro-Palestine activists. More than 3,000 people have been arrested in the UK for voicing support for Palestine Action. In Berlin, we saw Irish activist Kitty O’Brien left with facial injuries and a broken arm for standing defiantly and courageously in support of Palestinian liberation.
These are not issues that happen in ‘other’ countries. We’re already witnessing state-sanctioned violence on Irish soil, particularly when it comes to pro-Palestine activists. Last year’s Dublin Port protests resulted in numerous injuries reported by protestors, including a broken wrist. The use of disproportionate force by An Garda Síochána was condemned by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, which also noted the indiscriminate use of batons and pepper spray without verbal warning.
As militarisation looms over Ireland, a new wave of anti-war campaigners is emerging from student movements, with fresh faces mobilising to fortify Ireland’s longstanding anti-war tradition.
At the heart of this is the Student Neutrality Front (SNF), which launched in June 2025. Elain Ross, Events Secretary at the Student Neutrality Front, reiterated concerns about how the Gardaí are exerting power on protestors.
“Ireland’s police force has become more and more aggressive towards protestors, even in very calm situations. It has become an aggressor and it’s becoming increasingly militarised. Even walking around the city centre now, you see armed units appearing in the city far more often, you see public order on regular patrol.”
The SNF has increasing concerns that Ireland’s integration into a larger imperialist network is inevitable, if we do not act now. Given Ireland’s role in the EU, the government’s inaction regarding the use of Shannon as a de facto US military base, and Ireland’s complicity in Israel’s genocide, the movement sees Ireland in a very delicate situation.
Ross noted: “Ireland is no longer able to stand apart from Europe as this bastion of neutrality and morality, in a sea of European imperialism.”
The student-led movement acknowledged the threat this poses to queer and trans people in Ireland. “The self-determination that a colonised country is denied, results in a lack of self-determination for the queer and trans individuals within those colonised countries,” Ross said.
The SNF, representing the young people who are at increasing risk of being dragged to war, said: “We are the people who will be sent to the front lines to die in these wars, but they are not conducted on our behalf. They are conducted for the purpose of the GDP of Ireland and the GDP of the United States and the GDP of NATO countries. Therefore, we are looking at it as a fundamental antagonism between the people and their state. We look to the call towards generalised recruitment, militarisation and interventionism on the world stage and we reply with the call of ‘No war but class war’.
“We are not pacifists in the sense that we are unwilling to struggle. We are very willing to engage in conflict. We are not willing to engage in conflict on behalf of interests that are not our own.”
Ross grew up in the United States, a country that has written the playbook on normalising war (and building a culture around it). She’s particularly concerned about the direction that Ireland is heading in, noting that LGBTQ+ people need to get involved in the movement.
“There’s a very clear line in the sand regarding the extent to which we can gain self-determination for queer and trans people within the boundaries of an imperialist, militarist, capitalist nation state. In the face of attacks on our self determination and attacks on queer people in the global south, we cannot settle for demanding the little modicums of safety and protection from a state that is fundamentally counterposed to our existence.”
As army recruitment advertisements air on television right now, suggesting that participation can offer a sense of “belonging”, she notes that the growing sense of alienation caused by capitalism is being preyed upon.
“I’d call on anyone reading this to get involved with their most applicable civil society organisation,” Ross said. “There has been a dismantling of our social fabric. We’re losing our third spaces. We’re losing our community organisations. Therefore, more and more people are becoming isolated. Trade union density in young people is at an all time low. These things are important and they’re only going to become more important as things get more intense.
“I urge everybody reading this to join a trade union, join a left-wing political movement, join the Student Neutrality Front. This will be invaluable for the coming years when the fight comes closer and closer to home.”