Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I hold no brief, and nor do the Irish people, for the Russian Government, the British Government, the United States Government or indeed the Franco-German EU-NATO alliance. These big nuclear powers are looking after their own interests and the last thing on their minds is the interests of Ireland or the Irish people. All have records of total disregard for human beings and all have been involved in massacres right across the globe. As we speak, we know of the position in Syria and east Ghouta. We know Britain is assisting Saudi Arabia to bomb hundreds of thousands of people into oblivion in Yemen. We know that Britain and France invaded Libya and left behind a situation of total chaos, with three warring government factions.

On the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, hysterical war propaganda dismissed peace, dismissed human rights activists and failed to report the truth. We were told with absolute certainty that the Iraqis had huge arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. It all turned out to be completely untrue and without foundation. The Chilcot report in 2016 established that the former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, lied about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and his so-called weapons of mass destruction. Tony Blair chose invasion while knowing the intelligence information was deliberately flawed. The lesson from that is that intelligence information cannot be trusted, nor can the British Government.

The Tánaiste told us earlier that the action today was all about solidarity with our neighbour. We have to ask ourselves what solidarity that neighbour had with us when citizens were murdered on Bloody Sunday by British security forces, or when 33 Irish citizens died in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, again with clear involvement of British security forces. To this day, the British Government refuses to give the Irish authorities access to the relevant files.

None of these powers is our ally and we should not and must not take sides. By taking sides, the Government is making us a target in these big power conflicts and targets also for retaliation by people from countries attacked by those powers. Today's decision is another step in compromising Irish neutrality. Political and military neutrality is our best defence and we must maintain that neutrality.

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