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

I will read a couple of excerpts from an article in The Guardianpublished in the last couple of days. Under the headline "Yemen: inquiry finds Saudis diverting arms to factions loyal to their cause" the article reads "An investigation into weapons being used in the war in Yemen has shown numerous examples of arms supplied by the UK and the US, among others, ending up in the hands of militias including those linked to al-Qaida and Isis." That says it all. The purpose of the EDA is to develop the European arms industry. We are involving ourselves in the EDA and PESCO, whose specific objective is to monitor closely that all states that are signed up to it are upgrading their military capabilities on a progressive basis.

This means making more and more sophisticated weapons. The Minister of State called the major European states to which we are aligned like-minded states. Are we like-minded with states that sell weapons to the Saudi dictatorship? They sell weapons to a regime that denies all human rights and any right of political dissent, locks up women activists who are fighting for rights for women and anyone who dissents against the autocratic Saudi royal family, and shifts weapons on to ISIS and al-Qaeda in a murderous war in Yemen which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and has put almost 11 million people on the brink of famine. That is the connection. That is what Europe and major European powers are doing. The Minister of State calls them like-minded and says that he wants us to develop closer military co-operation with them and to assist them in upgrading, developing and enhancing the European arms industry. That is where the weapons come from.

The reason I am in politics is that I was in a refugee camp in Palestine in 1987 when the intifada had just started. I was not even involved in politics. A family, two of whose members had been dragged off to jail by the Israelis just because they participated in a protest, showed me tear gas canisters and other leftovers from weapons that were deployed by the Israeli defence forces which were made in the USA. That is where the weapons come from. They come from America, France and Britain and now we want to align ourselves with this machine of making money from producing the means to kill people. These like-minded states sell weapons to the most vile, vicious regimes and innocent people die as a result. Why on earth would we want to be part of that?

I beg the Minister of State not to tell me it is about protecting our soldiers. I got a communication from people who were part of the Irish Defence Forces. A commanding officer in the siege of Jadotville had recommended that a number of the very brave Irish troops who were involved in that siege receive military awards but for some reason they have never got them. If I have not submitted a parliamentary question on the matter I will do so. We do not even show respect for these people. They have made films about the famous siege of Jadotville and the film industry shows some respect for them. They are recommended for military honours and they do not get them.

We have soldiers protesting because their families are dependent on family income supplement, so miserable are their wages. We are buying military assets for the navy but we do not have enough personnel to man the ships because we pay them so pitifully. If the Minister of State really cared about the soldiers, he might give them the medals they deserve and he might pay them properly and treat them with respect so they and their families do not have to come protesting outside the Dáil because of the poverty they are suffering. That would show some real commitment and respect. The Minister of State must not tell me this in any way justifies getting involved with the European Defence Agency, whose sole purpose is to develop an industry of death and to sell weapons to vile and vicious regimes like the Saudi regime and many others.

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