Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Here again we have a ritualised endorsement and extension of a serious attack on basic civil liberties. This is particularly serious at a time when the reality of the actions of the State and how it defends the interests of the elites at the expense of the majority have become clear. Serious attacks on people's democratic right to protest have taken place over the course of the past half year or eight or nine months. This demonstrates clearly how tragedies, be it 11 September 2001 or the Omagh bombing, are used by the establishment to restrict civil liberties, citing emergency need only for the provisions to be extended for the 17th year in a row.

The Anti-Austerity Alliance and the Socialist Party oppose these measures. They were originally introduced in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing, an act which rightly caused revulsion among ordinary people throughout the country. The Socialist Party has a proud record of opposing the campaigns of paramilitaries across the island. We always pointed out that it was futile to attempt to bomb British imperialism out of Northern Ireland and that the actions of paramilitary groups only served to increase division and create sectarianism rather than uniting people. We have seen the development of a sectarian head count in the North in recent years. Clearly, the paramilitary campaigns were not successful, even on their own terms.

However, the Government has behaved cynically in bringing forward these proposals. Back in 1998, the then Government introduced the measures to deal with a specific situation. Since then, we have seen them renewed every year, with warnings that threat levels remain the same and references to paramilitaries in the North, international terrorism and, on this occasion, criminal gangs. This is fundamentally anti-democratic legislation and an attack on civil liberties. Draconian legislation is not the solution to the problem of terrorism. On the contrary, it becomes another weapon in the hands of the establishment to clamp down on people's right to protest and on movements that are opposed to the establishment. We have seen similar legislation used across the world to deal with social movements and protests. The classic example of this is in the United States, where the PATRIOT Act has been employed to massively curtail dissent and protest. In Brazil last year, anti-terrorism laws were used to clamp down on the huge protests that took place in the context of the football World Cup being held in that country.

In Ireland, we have seen the courts and the Garda Síochána used as weapons against the mass movement of people in opposition to water charges and austerity. We have seen people jailed for expressing their democratic right to protest, with one person still in prison at this time. We have seen the Garda used as a private security firm, on behalf of the richest man in Ireland, to impose water meters on communities which do not want them. We have seen elected representatives, women and children dragged out of their beds at 7 a.m. by a squadron of gardaí for engaging in a peaceful sit-down protest. Why on earth would anyone trust this Government or a future Government made up of the parties of the establishment to use these powers responsibly rather than against movements which dare to challenge the establishment?

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