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

Obviously the time is limited. I wish to refer to one issue. Clearly the issue which unsurprisingly dominated the EU summit was the revelations of the wholesale spying by the United States Government on its European counterparts, including many leaders of European Union countries. Naturally, such a scenario would provoke outrage and condemnation across the board or almost across the board - in many ways the Taoiseach stood out like a sore thumb for the wrong reasons against that backdrop by displaying himself as either unwilling or unable to understand the significance of what was going on. Obviously he was joined by David Cameron who would not be in any position to give out about any other country's surveillance regimes given the conduct of the GCHQ. To me and many Irish citizens the attitude displayed by the Taoiseach is at variance with that of most people in this country. It is important to put that on the record because many people are beginning to question whether there are any limits below which he will not sink in his slavish adherence to our masters across the water, as he appears to view them. There appears to be a belief that he is the leader of the 51st state of the union rather than an independent sovereign country. He could have played a lead role in this area but instead he chose to diminish the significance of what was taking place.

On the one hand he acknowledged what had happened to Angela Merkel's telephone as an appalling situation, if it was true, [I think he said] but then he went on to downplay the significance of that by joking that nobody would listen to his own telephone and, if so, that he would not really mind about that at all. That is not good enough. It is an absolute understatement of the potential invasion of Irish privacy which is going on here and the very serious issues at stake. Rather than deal with the issue he, again today, said intelligence gathering is very important in its role against terrorism. How could bugging Angela Merkel's telephone be dealing with the war against terrorism unless, of course, it is the economic terrorism which Mrs. Merkel and her counterparts are unleashing but I do not think he would have a problem with that considering that he agrees with it? The reality is that this has been a serious attack on the rights of all European Union citizens. It is imperative that an investigation be conducted into potential spying on the Irish public. The people have a right to know that information. It is inconceivable, given the role of Ireland as a gateway for US companies into the European market, our role in facilitating tax avoidance by many US corporations, among others, and our role in handing over Shannon Airport to the American establishment against that backdrop that mass surveillance has not been under way in this country or a trawl for information.

For the Taoiseach to say there is no indication that that is the case belies the reality of the information that exists. Of course denials are made by the authorities when the information is put to them and they only really admit it when they are caught out. The Taoiseach needs to take cognisance of that because the evidence demonstrates the opposite of what he said.

I was very pleased to see Edward Snowden interviewed last week around the time of the European gathering. He acknowledged that he felt the sacrifices he had made in his young life were vindicated by the discussions and the attention being put on mass surveillance as a result of the revelations he put in the public domain at enormous personal cost. He put on the record that massive oversight of Government intelligence agencies must be stepped up. We have a role to play in that regard. He made the point that citizens have to fight against the suppression of information about affairs of essential importance to the public. He said that those who speak the truth are not committing a crime. He went on to talk about how spy technology and surveillance is now clearly a global problem. As citizens who believe in openness and transparency, we have a moral duty to ensure that our laws and values limit surveillance programmes and protect human rights. The Taoiseach is the leader of an independent, neutral country in Europe. Many of the European authorities who were kicking and screaming about the United States engage in inappropriate surveillance themselves, although probably not to the same extent. We are in a unique position in that we could lead the way and have an open and informed debate to deal with this global problem.

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