Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is telling us that he is relying on assurances given, and he has given a history regarding the legislation and the orders. My question asks him to specify the robust procedures that are in place to ensure that the conditions are met. Telling me that a letter of request and a reply is the same as a robust procedure is simply not acceptable. We, as a neutral country, are now complicit in wars in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and so on. The death rate is appalling. If we look at Yemen alone, where a military raid was ordered by President Trump over dinner, 23 civilians were killed in that raid, including ten children aged 12 and under, an 80 year old man and several women. That was called a win by President Trump, although his senior officials have since confirmed that it was a mistake and that it was wrong. In Yemen, 19 million of the total 28 million population are in need of humanitarian aid, and one child under five dies every ten minutes from preventable diseases. We are complicit in that war and in this slaughter. I again put that simple question to the Minister. If his answer is that we are relying on assurances, I will take that, but I ask him please to spell it out for me.

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