Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

Was it not breathtaking hypocrisy for the Taoiseach's Government to pretend to honour those who fought in 1916 when the Proclamation for which they fought, although certainly not a socialist document despite the presence of the great socialist, James Connolly, asserted the ownership of Ireland by the people? Does it not fly completely in the face of the spirit of that that his Government is divesting key assets of Ireland and the ownership of those assets from the people to international speculators? This has happened with the telecoms industry and the Government proposes to do the same with the national airline. It has destroyed the national sugar beet industry by giving it to national and international speculators.

As he stood at the GPO on Easter Sunday and thought of men and women who went out to overthrow imperialist domination of Ireland, a small country, did the Taoiseach not consider the irony that he and his Government are facilitating a similar domination by other major powers, namely, the US and Britain which have invaded and occupied Iraq? Is the Government wrapping the banner of 1916 around itself utterly opportunistic in view of its policies over the past nine years?

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