Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Much of the agenda of the European Council was dominated by the response to the events in Paris, the so-called war on terrorism and the prevention of radicalisation. The very first thing the Taoiseach should say within the European Council is that all of the problems in Syria and the refugee crisis, much of which stems from what is happening in Syria, will be made worse by the actions of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other powers that are bombing in Syria. Is it not obvious that that is the case? More innocent people will be killed in the bombings. How can this be a legitimate response to the horrors in Paris? It will increase the flow of refugees from Syria and be the best possible recruiter for Daesh that one could imagine and increase support for it. In addition, it will not work, as we know because the United States has carried out over 2,000 bombing runs in the past year and in that time Daesh has substantially expanded its territory. In direct proportion to the intensification of bombing supposedly against Daesh, it has expanded its territory and recruited more people. The bombing will prolong the war, strengthen Daesh by increasing the number of recruits and strengthen President Assad and encourage more support from Russia for him, the net result of which will be a continuation and an extension of the war.

Is the alternative not to stand up and say, "Do not bomb; do not make the situation worse," and instead demand that we stop arming and treating as normal states such as Saudi Arabia which is funnelling support and weapons to the most extreme jihadist groups?

We should take action against Israel, which again last night killed 14 innocent Palestinians in raids on refugee camps. The plight and persecution of these people is one of the main recruiting sergeants for jihadist groups across the region.

Should we not start to speak out about what the el-Sisi regime is not just doing to Ibrahim Halawa but to thousands of its citizens? I read today that the el-Sisi regime has destroyed 3,000 homes around Rafah, on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border, in the so-called war on terrorism. However, we continue to do business with regimes like this, beef deals and so on. The west sells them arms and provides military aid. Why do we not speak out on behalf of the PKK, which is one of the forces that is conducting effective resistance to Daesh and Assad and pointing to the repressive and hypocritical nature of the Turkish regime and which is still, wrongly, on a terrorist list? Why are we not speaking out publicly saying the PKK should be taken off the terrorist list, because if there is any hope in the disaster that is Syria, it will come from the ordinary people on the ground who oppose Assad and Daesh. The PKK and the Kurdish forces resisting both of those forces have shown the capacity to resist them in a progressive manner.

In all of this, we maintain a deathly silence, while we continue to collaborate with the US war machine and with all the war mongering at Shannon involving US troops, armaments and so on. When we look at the disaster of Syria and the refugee crisis it has caused and when we look at the destruction of Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan, should we not say that we are going to restore our shredded neutrality, that we are not going to participate in this and that we are going to take a stand on the international stage against this madness?

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