Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Are the records of some of the leaders attending the G8 summit in Fermanagh of concern to the Taoiseach? President Putin routinely crushes the right to democratic peaceful protest in Russia. President Obama routinely sends pilotless drones, which have killed thousands of innocent civilians, into Pakistan. The economic policies of the likes of Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Cameron are contributing in their austerity to the 26 million people unemployed in the European Union. These, and all the others, and the global policies they advocate and implement as leaders of world capitalism are responsible for the fact that hundreds of millions of people are hungry in the world.

What role will the Taoiseach play at the G8 summit? Can he elaborate on it? If I understood him correctly, he said he has no formal role. Will he sit there quiet as a churchmouse or will he raise some of the critical issues, challenge the leaders and confront them with the effects of their policies on hundreds, if not thousands, of millions of people?

Does the Taoiseach know that many ordinary people, including young people, trade unionists and advocates for the poorest countries on earth, plan peaceful protests at the G8 summit? Is he aware that this right to protest is being consciously and consistently undermined in a number of ways, including through scare stories in the media which deliberately play on lurid threats of widespread violence, disorder and terror? While I understand there have been some bomb threats by dissident republicans, which is quite reactionary and to be condemned, these stories go way beyond this. Is the Taoiseach aware that the Northern Ireland Minister of Justice, Mr. Ford, has highlighted these fears by demanding permanent sittings of the courts, including during the night and on Sundays, before the summit even gets under way, to cater for potentially hundreds of people who will, in his mind, be thrown into prison? Part of Maghaberry Prison has been set aside for this purpose. Does the Taoiseach understand the reactionary nature of this type of scaremongering as an attempt to cut across the civil right of people to dissent and to oppose the policies of the G8? Is it not clear that it is designed to discourage people from attending? A wide range of people protest against fracking, for example, and many other disparate but crucial issues facing communities. They wish to protest but they are being dissuaded from doing so.

We have previous experience of this. There were similar lurid threats when we were protesting against the Iraq war and before important demonstrations. It also occurred before the big summit in Dublin in 2000, if I remember correctly, when the Government of the day brought in water cannon from the North. There was no reason for it except to stoke up fear and to frighten people and families into staying away. Will the Taoiseach condemn this and clearly state that people have the right to protest peacefully? I encourage people to come out and show their views. The Taoiseach said he is aware of the false fronts being painted on shop fronts. Is that not really adding insult to the injury of the people of Northern Ireland who are currently languishing in unemployment and, for many, in poverty? Presumably, it is being paid for from the incredible £60 million that will be spent on this G8 summit, largely on security. Is it not incredible that world leaders feel themselves to be so much under siege that taxpayers, instead of spending this money on the development of local economies, jobs and decent communities, are forced to spend it on protecting these leaders from the people they are supposed to serve and represent?

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