Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We used to have a reputation around the world as a country that small nations suffering oppression would look to be a voice on their behalf in the UN. That was a very proud record. Over the past ten or 15 years, we have decided to undo that record and undo the esteem in which we have been held by small countries around the world. We have done that by allowing Shannon Airport to be used as a military air base, by signing up to a common European defence and foreign policy and by making ourselves subservient to the dominant European decisions made by France, Germany and the UK and saying it is a common policy to which we all sign up. Where has our independence gone? Where is our independent stance in the world in terms of what is right and wrong?

There is no doubt that what Russia and the Syrian Government are doing to the Syrian people is wrong and appalling but, as has been said by other Members here, 15 countries have been involved in bombing Syria but it is only after Russia and the Syrian Government get involved that we get on our high horses and get indignant about it. This is a sad reflection on the state of this country and our so-called foreign policy. It is as if it is okay when the good guys do the killing but it is not okay when someone we do not like or someone the US tells us we do not like does it as well. That is the impression created here. I do not think we should all preface our remarks by saying that we condemn what Russia and Assad are doing because we all do but we also condemn what is being done in our names by 15 other countries that have bombed civilians across Syria.

Since June, 164 civilians and 44 children have been killed in coalition bombing raids. There has not been an ounce of condemnation by the Government or Fianna Fáil here about that. A couple of weeks ago, the Saudi Arabian Government killed 140 people by bombing a funeral in Sana'a in Yemen but that was an accident so that is okay. When the Americans bomb hospitals in Kabul, that is an accident and that is okay as well, even though Médecins Sans Frontières staff in the hospitals were in contact with the Americans telling them they were bombing civilian targets, yet they continued to bomb them. That, too, is okay and not a word is heard from our Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade or our Government.

That is the problem with this motion tonight. We are taking sides in this conflict. We should be neutral and standing up for the defenceless countries. It is what we had a history of doing until we became a proxy military base for the US.

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