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

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have already brought shame on this State and shredded our tradition of military neutrality by facilitating 2 million US troops in going through Shannon Airport to conduct a disastrous war that led to more than 1 million deaths in Iraq, millions of people being displaced and the disastrous crisis we now see in Syria. Now the Government wants to compound the shame and shredding of our neutrality by trying to implicate the Naval Service in the filthy, xenophobic, racist policies of fortress Europe. These policies have led directly to 14,000 men, women, children and babies drowning in the Mediterranean Sea in the past two years. More than 30,000 have drowned over the last four years. This motion seeks to sully the heroic and brave record of the Naval Service, which has rescued some 16,000 people from the consequences of fortress Europe. The Government wants to sully that record by implicating the Naval Service in the xenophobic, racist and murderous policies of fortress Europe. That is what the Government would be doing.

This motion is an extension of the filthy deals that the European Union has done with Turkey - and is negotiating with Libya and with Afghanistan - to deport, force back and keep out desperate people who are fleeing from the consequences of the actions by this Government's friends in the US, Britain and France. When they were bombing Libya they said it was about protecting civilians but in fact it was about regime change and destroying Libya. It led on to precisely the refugee disaster we currently have. Having done that and having not spoken out against it on behalf of this country, the Government now wants to take measures to collaborate with the militias in Libya to force people back into the disastrous mess that was created by western powers. This is what the Government is doing with the desperate Syrian refugees who would not be refugees were it not for the fact that Ireland and others facilitated a war in Iraq in the first place. That war led directly to the destruction of Syrian society and is producing the disastrous humanitarian consequences we now see.

The Government has tried to do this at the last minute. We did not hear about this motion at the Business Committee yet it is something that strikes, fundamentally, at Ireland's neutrality. The Government has tried to push it through without any real background. This measure would move the Naval Service from doing humanitarian work to doing what is, effectively, military work and protecting filthy fortress Europe.

In the last minute remaining to me, I must say how this sort of cynical policy also has consequences for other Irish military personnel. We have seen what happened in Camp Ziouani with Irish troops in the UNDOF mission over the last weeks. They came under fire from Syrian rebels. Although it was not directed at the Irish troops it seriously endangered them. On 23 September 2014 I challenged then Minister, Deputy Coveney, about pulling our troops out of that type of situation. I had said that putting our troops in behind the Israeli side of the separation zone in the Golan Heights would lead the troops into potential danger from some of the militant groups in the area. This is what then Minister for Defence, Deputy Simon Coveney said in response to me at the time:

Commentators are talking about ISIL and Islamic State and US bombing in Syria. It has been made clear to me that the rebel forces and militia in the Golan Heights are not ISIL or Islamic State, but what is called the al-Nusra Front, which is an offshoot of al-Qaeda. They have different objectives and we are unlikely to see any bombing happening in that place.

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I pointed out at the time how extraordinary it was that al-Qaeda had suddenly become our friends, according to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, but it was unlikely we would see any bombing. Then we see in recent weeks Irish troops being forced on five different occasions to go to ground, fearing for their lives, because they are caught up in this cynical hornet's nest of Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey backing al-Qaeda affiliates, which are putting our troops in danger. What is the Irish Government doing? There is the cynical implication of Israel in all this, which is publicly humiliating us, by the way, while at the same time co-operating with the al-Qaeda affiliates which are putting our troops in danger. The Government is destroying what is left of our neutrality, endangering Irish personnel in Syria and the Mediterranean and tarnishing our international reputation.

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