Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It would be a serious mistake to send troops in any form to Mali. The mission to Chad, where Irish troops were the second biggest contingent, was really to further French interests. At that time, we were told its purpose was to protect internally displaced people and refugees from Darfur. In reality, the EU troops were used to free up the forces of the dictator and allow him to crush the rebels while the rest of the EU was doing some other work.

The Tuareg people have been in a long struggle for autonomy in northern Mali. The idea that the troops are going in to quell terrorism is a myth. Research indicates no record of al-Qaeda activity in the area until it was orchestrated by the Algerian intelligence services, backed up by the United States and with the full knowledge of the EU, which encouraged fundamentalist atrocities so that the situation could be used to enable an intervention and open up and exploit the area's mineral wealth and oil. Is that not the real agenda? Would we not be making a serious mistake to further France's interests in that regard? We are talking about gold, uranium, diamonds and oil, and not humanitarian issues.

See this speech in context