Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also extend my sympathies to the families of the Irish people who died and all of the other tourists. I acknowledge the solidarity shown by so many Tunisian people at the atrocity and massacre. It struck me that so many of the people who were murdered were of a certain age. They were older people who probably had reared their families and were enjoying a holiday. It really brings home the fragility of life.

There is no doubt the irreparable damage that has been done by Western powers with the invasion of Iraq and other countries. When one thinks back to 2003, thousands of people marched in Dublin against the pending invasion, and in other places throughout the Western world at that time, but nobody was listening to the voice of the people. It was a democratic protest against what was happening. For all their faults, there were other ways to deal with the Saddam Husseins and Gadaffis. We see the damage that has been done in those countries now.

It is difficult to get my head around the extent of the hatred people can have within the one religion – Sunni and Shia – and within certain Muslim people against what they call the infidel. That brings we me back to the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa, AWEPA. We had funding to bring over parliamentarians from the North African countries at the time of one of our Constitutional Convention meetings. We had parliamentarians from Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. There was such great positivity and joy on the part of the Tunisian delegation. They had just drawn up their new constitution, which was very inclusive and was very respectful of difference, and they were looking forward to going ahead into the new Tunisia that would respect people’s rights. The recent atrocity is a terrible blow to those people.