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

I am very heartened to hear clear and unequivocal condemnation of the sentences. While this is positive, why is there such a contrast between the approaches to Ukraine and Egypt? Five hundred and twenty-nine people are to be executed by the military regime in Egypt based on trumped-up charges but there is no talk of sanctions or urgent action. If the Russians decided to execute 529 people in Ukraine tomorrow, what would the Minister of State be doing or saying now? There would be emergency sessions of the United Nations, immediate sanctions, sabre rattling and probably talk of military action. I would not be in favour of military action but of an emergency response and the imposition of hard sanctions to show the proposed action is acceptable. It is a question of not trading with Egypt, breaking off diplomatic relations with it and using every bit of power at our disposal to stop it engaging in mass political executions that are essentially to reconsolidate the dictatorship of Mubarak under a new name.

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