Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

Giving dates for elections does not impress me or the Egyptian people because elections were held under President Mubarak. The problem was that the Mubarak clique continued to rule with an iron fist. All political opposition was suppressed violently. Giving dates for elections means nothing, therefore; it is a charade while the military clique retains power which it uses to crush political opposition. It is necessary for the Government to publicly condemn the military's repression of the democracy movement, call in the ambassador to demand that the military regime state it will relinquish power to the civil authorities and identify a date this year. This includes releasing political prisoners and bringing the suppression of the protests to an end.

The Government should also call in the Saudi ambassador. The Minister of State referred to groups of thugs attacking Coptic Christians; they are being financed by elements of the Saudi regime. There is a conspiracy involving certain forces in the region, backed up by the United States, which do not wish to see a genuine democracy in Egypt. I appeal to the Government to show publicly that it is on the side of the people by making concrete demands to bring about the realisation of the aims of the democratic revolution in Egypt.

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