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

I agree with the Minister of State. It is to the credit of the political class and to Irish society, more to the point, that the overwhelming response to the refugee crisis is one of compassion and solidarity. I accept that point. However, the thrust of many of the questions and contributions directed at the Minister of State is to ask why Ireland does not raise its voice more loudly and decisively against the double standards, hypocrisy and sordid manipulation by Western powers in the Middle East and north Africa. This behaviour created these crises in the first place and they are continuing. This is not simply an interesting historical point. However, there is a historical point with regard to the US bombing of Iraq. Does the Minister of State not accept that, undoubtedly, the bombing of Iraq destabilised the region and unleashed these forces? Does the Minister of State not accept that the arming, supporting and financing of the Saudi regime has been a contributory factor to the growth and prevalence of some of the worst, most vile and extreme forces in the region which have helped to tear Syria apart? Does the Government accept that? If it does, why are we not speaking out more loudly? Why are we not a voice in Europe calling for the European Union to refuse to do business with Saudi Arabia or sell that country arms? Why do we continue to trade with these regimes?

A total of 40 Palestinians have been killed in the past month in an escalation of Israeli and settler violence against the Palestinian population. Why do we not declare that it is time to say enough is enough, stop treating Israel as a normal state and demand sanctions on Israel? Why can we not be that voice in Europe? Why are we afraid to do that? I suspect that those occupying much of the political spectrum in this country agree with this privately, even if they do not say it publicly. They know these things to be true. Why are we doing business with the el-Sisi regime when he is busily crushing all political dissent? Is it because we can make money out of the beef trade?

Is that it, with human rights concerns going out the door? He crushes democracy and civil rights go out the door because we are doing business with him. If that is not it, can the Minister of State please explain why we do not raise our voices?

One of our citizens, Ibrahim Halawa, is suffering in Egypt, but many others are also suffering. It is not just the Muslim Brotherhood. People involved in campaigns for secular and civil rights, lawyers and people on the left of the political spectrum in Egypt, are in prison because they organised peaceful protests against the el-Sisi regime and face possible execution. What about the Turkish regime and what it is doing to the Kurds? We now seem to be willing to shut up about all that because we want to unload the refugee crisis onto Turkey rather than having to deal with it ourselves. Why are we not more forthright in pointing out these inconsistencies and democracies, which produced the problem in the first place?

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