Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

He is definitely hiding. Is the Minister of State aware that more than 460 foreign soldiers have received military training in the Curragh over the past ten years? I presume the majority were trained within the parameters of our neutrality and at the behest of the UN, which is laudable. However, the list the Department supplied in response to a number of valid parliamentary questions highlighted that the countries of origin of these soldiers include Israel, Russia and many NATO countries. Outwardly, it appears no safeguards are in place to ensure complicity in human rights abuses or to prevent breaches of neutrality. Are safeguards in place? If so, what are they? Is the Minister aware UN resolutions are regularly ignored by Israel and Russia and their forces have been involved in arbitrary detention, torture, disappearance and extrajudicial execution? For example, the Russian federal forces were responsible for approximately 450 abductions last year in Chechnya.

Even if the numbers from these countries who are trained is low, does the Minister of State agree any part played by this State in these atrocities is too big a part? Does he further agree that instead of lending these countries legitimacy or meeting their needs, we should boycott their military organisations, particularly those of Israel and Russia?

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