Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We should act evenly but that is not happening. In February 2014, the US and the EU supported an illegal and unconstitutional neo-Nazi led coup in Kiev. According to the constitution of Ukraine, the constitutional court of that country was supposed to review the case for the removal of President Yanukovych and certify that the constitutional procedure of investigation and consideration had been followed. Then the supreme court could certify that the case was worthy of impeachment but none of this happened. A Bill that did not have the required 75% support necessary for his removal was simply passed. The EU and the US had no problem with this illegal coup or with the fact that neo-Nazis took the top spots in the new administration. A few months prior to that, Victoria Nuland, the then US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, revealed that the US had invested a lot of money to help get rid of Yanukovych. An overwhelming majority in Crimea voted to secede to Russia and only then did the international community call foul play. The idea that we would use sanctions as a political stick in this situation just does not stack up.

The Tánaiste has said that this is a collective position on the part of the EU and that Ireland on its own cannot do anything. Does he not remember the time that Ireland went out on its own and advocated for the end of the use of cluster bombs? We were not making or dropping such bombs but we were a serious player in the debate at that time. We can have a strong voice as a small, neutral country, but we are not actually neutral. The very fact that we are still allowing Shannon Airport to be used as a US military base undermines any notion that Ireland is neutral.

I have great respect for the way the Tánaiste looks at things in some ways and I believe he is genuine. However, his alignment to US foreign policy distorts his position. That is very unfortunate, given that he is such a genuine person.

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