Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. To reiterate, we could argue until the cows come home about the technicalities. Advice from the Attorney General can be perfect and sometimes maybe it is not perfect. I am not sure a Government would be acting within its remit to ignore such advice but maybe it is so. I imagined it could have some flexibility in the issue. The problem remains that despite whatever new legislation we or others bring in on the next occasion of an atrocious attack somewhere, people will wonder why it could not have been stopped. Further legislation may be introduced, with more laws infringing freedom, but that will not stop terrorism. These sorts of attacks will not stop until we address the root cause of the problem. The imperial war of aggression that does not stop - it has expanded and got so much worse in the past number of years - is part of the problem.

The major military power in the world is now America and it is difficult for anybody to get elected as US President without the support of the arms industry. So much of the decision-making around who gets bombed and shot is centred around promoting the arms industry. Until Ireland has the courage to behave like a neutral country and call a stop to this absolute nonsense, we will continue to have problems in the area.

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