David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. He knows that I am not an unqualified admirer of this Government or its policies. When I give praise, it is thought out, however. I congratulate the Tánaiste on his nuanced response to recent events in Egypt. It was very significant. The Morsi regime may be unattractive. It was incompetent and failed to deal with the economy. It had obnoxious views about women and all the rest of it. However, the lead general in the overthrow of the Morsi regime was one of those who proposed forced virginity tests on those protesting in Tahrir Square. It is a very complicated situation. When we talk about democracy, it is remarkable that over the past 30 years every time an Islamic regime has been legitimately elected it has been subverted by the West. It happened in Algeria, Libya, disastrously in Iraq and Palestine. All these regimes were elected by a mass vote of the people but then the West got in and undermined them. They may be horrible regimes. They may contain people about whom we might have reservations. I certainly have reservations about the ones who supplanted them, however.

It is ludicrous for us to talk about democracy unless we are prepared to face the history in the region. If we had not stuck our noses in and made a bags of it - if one is allowed to say “bags” - maybe the regimes would have worked and have been tempered by the experience of government. Has the Minister sought and received support from any of our EU colleagues for his stance on Egypt? I doubt there will be unanimous support for his stand but it was courageous, dignified and 100% warranted.