Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I am not the only one who was embarrassed beyond belief by the conduct of this Government in its approach to our colleagues in Greece. The Government is behaving like the teacher's pet, sitting up in the front row sniggering and delighting in the teacher turning on the poor boy at the back of the class and giving him a beating. It is pathetic. I thought was unrivalled until I listened to Deputy Martin. The attitude of Fianna Fáil is even worse. Not content with the teacher giving the young fellow a beating, they want the young fellow to be blamed for it.

The attitude is in sharp contrast to the attitude of ordinary Irish people. Instinctively, they feel solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Greece, which was graphically displayed on the protest on Saturday, where many Irish people who marched against this Government's austerity draped themselves in the Greek flag. It was an instinctive solidarity and it captured the real idea of what the EU ideal was supposed to be, a Europe of equals and where opportunities were given to those who need the most, the weakest. We have come a shocking way from that.

I want to make a couple of points about Libya. We heard the Council discussed the idea of supposedly stepping up support for Libya, even with the idea of sending in a security mission, which could even possibly involve troops from Ireland. This would be almost beyond belief when some of those going into clean up the mess were directly responsible for it in the first place, with the active role of the French and British in the bombing and decimation of that country. We must look at what the liberation has caused. Libya is a hellhole and the centre of ISIS activity, including a public beheading of 21 Egyptian fishermen and workers one month ago. The video showing it was released on the fourth anniversary of the so-called Libyan revolution.

In that context, all of the things the west accused the Gaddafi regime of being responsible for are being repeated by that which has replaced it. I refer to massacres, the shelling of residential areas, car bombings, mass arrests, torture, the theft of oil and other natural resources, etc. There are even two governments in place there and these comprise warring factions. The first of these is led by a stooge of the CIA who supposedly is fighting against an Islamic threat now and who fought with that agency against Gaddafi in the past. Libya was previously the wealthiest country in Africa. Its people had a high standard of living, access to free health care and education and there was a good electricity supply. All of these have been utterly decimated as a result of the conflict.

Some 1 million refugees have fled the country and entered Tunisia and a future 400,000 Libyans have been displaced. I understand the Council discussed the number of illegal immigrants fleeing into Europe. Some 200,000 people entered Europe illegally last year, as opposed to 60,000 in 2013. Why do the members of the Council think all of those immigrants are coming here and seeking sanctuary? It is because of the horror that has been unleashed in their own countries. President Obama told us that this is the new humanitarian model but what is now in place is absolutely reprehensible. The idea that the EU is going to go in and save the day and that Ireland might play its part in this regard is a joke.

My final point relates to Ukraine. I really do not want to start talking about this issue because I could be here for the remainder of the evening. I do not support President Putin in any way but the remarks made by Deputy Martin were unbelievable. The idea that NATO is blameless is just not acceptable, particularly when one considers that 26 out of the 28 NATO countries are located in Europe and that 12 of these are in eastern Europe. Deputy Martin indicated that he is upset about an extremist far-right alliance supporting Russia but he had absolutely nothing to say regarding the far-right fascist elements inside the Ukrainian Government. What we criticise is the lack of balance relating to and inconsistency of these programmes and the fact that those in Europe support one side when they should stay out of other people's business.

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