Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

When I proposed that we would have this debate in the absence of the Bill from Fianna Fáil, I did so in order to allow this House to reflect on what the people and the Government can do in terms of intervening in a conflict that is utterly horrendous. Words fail me to describe the barbarity of what has gone, and continues to go, on in Syria on a daily basis. I was disgusted by the response of the leader of Fianna Fáil's in accusing us of being Russian apologists.

In one way it was slightly amusing because we are normally accused of being Trotskyites, which is supposed to be an even dirtier word than Russian apologist. Trotsky was the one person who stood out and led a movement against Stalin and the barbarism of the Soviet Union in its heyday and ended up with an ice pick through his head for his efforts. It is ironic that we are accused of that on the one hand and called Russian apologists on the other.

In his opening statement, the Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, said, "We have resettled hundreds of [refugees] ... We will accept thousands more." I have to ask the Minister the obvious question. When will this happen? This conflict has gone on for five years. The Mediterranean has been turned into an open graveyard. Many of the Deputies in this House have visited various refugee camps. I was in refugee camps in Athens during the summer. I met people from Aleppo who would have a huge amount to offer this country. They are mathematicians, scientists, teachers, nurses and all sorts of people with their children who would love to come to Ireland but were not asked to come. They were asked to fill out forms according to European Union regulations and were given options of various countries. Most of them had never heard of Ireland. Nobody from Ireland is going around asking them if they would like to come to our country except for the odd visitor like me. Most of them are being asked if they will go to Germany, Turkey and elsewhere. We have to make a concerted effort to open our doors to those refugees. That is all I will say on that issue. We should probably revisit it again.

I direct my comments on this to the question of clarity and what is happening in Syria. I have had history lessons and heard a lot of different opinion in this House. Deputy Darragh O'Brien said the only people with planes and bombs in this conflict are the Assad regime and Russia. That should be put to bed straight away. In July, 140 civilians, including children, were killed by American and French bombs from the sky in a town called Toukhan Al-Kubra. It was not the first time and it probably will not be the last that French and US military were used to bomb civilians in this conflict. The emphasis is rightly on Aleppo now. Nobody is more appalled by the treatment of the people of Aleppo than those of us on this side of the House who started out at the beginning of the Arab Spring by declaring our complete support for that uprising. We have consistently continued to do so. The uprisings in Syria, Tunisia and Egypt, which spread like wildfire through the Arab populations, gave us hope for the first time in over a century that somehow the Middle East could regain its respect and decency on the planet. It has been used as a football by every regime from America, Britain, France, Germany, Turkey and Israel. It has been used as a political, strategic and economic football which has culminated in the conflict in Syria. It goes right back to the division of the region after the First World War but, most important, it started with the invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush which hundreds of thousands of people in this country and millions across the planet protested against. We were called over the top and hysterical when we said this would not stop at Iraq, that it would spread the conflict, increase sectarianism and give an excuse for regional powers and strategic interests to invade and infest many countries with their rotten murderous machines. This is what is being played out in Syria. It is the military intervention of imperialist powers who are conducting a proxy war in the Syrian region. It is the people of that region that are suffering very dearly for it. We should be telling the international community to stop selling arms to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the rotten, despotic regimes arming groups engaging in the conflict internally, to stop the bombing on all sides by the US and France and to stop lying.

This is not just about Russia and Russia's role in it. It is about international imperialist interference in the situation. They should cease fire, get the hell out and leave the Syrian people to sort out their own issues. If they had done that in the first place, we may have had a chance to support ideologically, from the outside and with humanitarian aid, those who were prepared to stand up to the Assad regime and those who engaged in the Arab Spring. We are now in the horrors of a really desperate conflict which is continuing. The Minister should be doing three fundamental things: calling for a halt to the sale of arms, opening the doors to the refugees, and stopping the use of Shannon Airport for military planes and personnel to land and refuel which assists them in carrying out whatever functions they carry out, whether in Mosul, Syria or beyond. It has to stop. It has been a demand of the population of this country in maintaining our neutrality. Neutrality is not just a word; it is also actions. Our actions in continuing to allow the use of Shannon Airport in such a way fly in the face of neutrality.

If we remember the enthusiasm of David Cameron to roll into Syria and bomb the bejesus out of it when the conflict started, this will be a reminder that it is not just about Russia but about the imperial interest of the West which it has always had in the region and which it continues to have. It is about influence, power and the dynamism of the big powers of this world. The one power we have something to say about and could influence is that of Saudi Arabia, which is engaged in a terrible conflict in Yemen. It is not that long ago that we flew the flag at half mast for the Saudi king when he died. Let us fly the flag at half mast for the Syrians who are being butchered every day. Let us open the borders, let them in and let them work, live and contribute to this society. As was said by the previous Deputy, some day they will be able to go home to a country they love which was once beautiful and peaceful. Until we do that, we are talking through both sides of our mouth.

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