Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Okay. The lack of honesty in politics is not rare and it is not confined to Trump. We have helped the American military to bomb Afghanistan for 15 years through facilitating them at Shannon Airport. We are horrified that Trump is introducing a ban on Muslims going to America - it is terrible - but what does it say about us that when Obama was bombing the living daylights out of the same people we had so little to say about it? We were even prepared to let them use our airport to do so. Where was the outrage then? It is madness.

Do people realise that Obama deported more undocumented migrants in his term of office than all the American Presidents from the 20th century put together? He has created a record for deportation. Last year alone he dropped 26,000 bombs and that was one of his more peaceful years. He talked peace but he was a warmonger. The question of whether the Taoiseach should go to America and talk to Trump is a moot one. I challenged the Taoiseach in the House two years ago before St. Patrick's Day. I suggested that if he was going to America to meet Obama that he should please raise his drone campaign, which was causing huge problems for the world. It was increasing the prevailing level of terrorism. I do not believe the Taoiseach raised the issue.

It is not a case of whether the Taoiseach goes to the White House or not, if we are going to analyse who he is going to talk to then in fairness he would not talk to many. On that basis, I do not think he should talk to Hollande. As to whether I would send a trade mission to Saudi Arabia, I would not. When we go on a trade mission to Saudi Arabia we do not mention the word "Yemen", although genocide is being carried out there. I find it interesting that the mainstream media have turned on Trump. He has not killed a fraction of the people Obama has killed yet. I do not say he will not do so, and I will not defend him. He is an ugly racist. I have no problem challenging what he does. However, let us not pretend that things were different before now. Why was Trump able to do what he did? One of the reasons he is able to tap into the groundswell of anti-Muslim fear and bigotry is because that has been cultivated for years. How did he come up with the seven countries? In December 2015 Obama signed a Bill making it more difficult for those people to get into America. He did not ban them completely but he initiated a Bill which made life more difficult for them. In February 2016 the Obama Administration added Libya, Somalia and Yemen to the list of countries one could not have visited but allowed dual citizens of those countries who had not travelled there access to the visa waiver programme. Dual citizens of Syria, Sudan, Iraq and Iran are still ineligible. Obama restricted visa waivers for those seven Muslim majority countries and now Trump is seeking to stop them completely. Could we not admit that what the Americans have been doing for years, and in particular since 2001, after 9/11, has done untold damage to the world?

It is reckoned they have killed over 2 million civilians in the Middle East region and beyond with their military efforts. We still allow Shannon Airport to be used. If the Taoiseach was prepared to go to the US and stop the Americans using Shannon Airport as a military base and raise the subject with President Trump, I could live with him going. It will not be an awful lot worse than going to see the last few fellows anyway.

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