Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 3 July 2025

Committee on Defence and National Security

General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed)

2:00 am

Mr. Stephen Kelly:

"No" would be the short answer. We have been very strong in our rhetoric on Gaza and very weak in our actions. Francesca Albanese, the UN expert on the occupied Palestinian territories, has said as much. It is a disgrace we have allowed aeroplanes to transit Irish airspace, as has been extensively documented by The Ditch, carrying munitions of war, in many cases to Israel. We were correct to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine but I do not agree we were correct to provide training to Ukrainian troops. We should have confined any assistance to humanitarian assistance with organisations such as the Red Cross.

I do not agree with providing lethal training, which is what we have provided because we have provided rifle training to troops.

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