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

I congratulate the Taoiseach on the fact that one of his Ministers appears to have read the report on the inquiry into the termination of fixed charge penalty notices and understand that while it starts with, "Once upon a time", it does not end with, "happily ever after". This issue is not going away and credibility in the system will not be restored unless there is a full independent inquiry.

As we are now in the countdown to the G8 summit, I wish to raise a couple of issues in that regard. The Taoiseach is aware that fake shop fronts have been erected across Enniskillen to hide from the visiting G8 dignitaries the reality of an economy in tatters. It is somewhat reminiscent of the tactics employed by Potemkin in Czarist Russia who authorised the building of fake villages along the route to be travelled by Catherine the Great. Will the Taoiseach agree with me that this is a somewhat poignant analogy for the G8 gathering? The dictionary definition of a Potemkin village is an impressive facade designed to hide an undesirable fact. Will the Taoiseach agree that it is an undesirable fact that while they talk about eradicating hunger, the reality is that the policies being pursued by the G8 will ensure hunger? Will he agree that it is an undesirable fact that while they talk about dealing with tax evasion, they are the very people who are responsible for organising tax avoidance on a massive scale? Will he agree that while they talk about peace, this gathering up the road will in actual fact be a gathering of war-mongers?

How can the Taoiseach justify the spending of taxpayers' money on the deployment of 900 gardaí, having courts available 24 hours a day and judges on call and the possibility of the mobile phone network being shut down? I wonder whether he is taking lessons from his colleagues in Turkey in order to deal with peaceful protesters, while at the same time his Government has not deployed a single garda to investigate the hundreds of US military aircraft landing at Shannon Airport every year? For how long does he intend to facilitate Mr. Obama in spying on citizens around the globe by allowing him access to the servers of the major Internet companies based in Ireland, despite our data protection legislation? Does he not think it would be more appropriate for the leader of a neutral country, rather than protecting the promoters of war, to make a gesture and protect those who advocate, speak for and defend civil liberties by offering asylum to the heroic whistleblower Mr. Edward Snowden?

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