Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----but he has even lower thresholds than I have. That is all I can say about the matter. It is regrettable and we should take note of it, but I ask why this has happened. Why is Ireland frightened to raise its voice against anything? Whether Deputies Mick Wallace and Clare Daly are right, surely the Minister should have expressed concern about the apparent activities of the United States at Shannon Airport. Instead, he is silent and we are cowed. We are not a neutral nation; we are a neutered nation. We are a nation that hides behind others, seeks consensus and then makes statements in line with it, whether it be the European Union, the United States or the United Knigdom. One thing is certain - because of this and the former Government's policy, we are now a satellite nation. We are a satellite nation one day of the United States, one day of the United Kingtdom and another of the European Union, but we are certainly not an independent neutral nation the word of which is listened to around the world. That is something I regret.

Have I just two minutes remaining?

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