Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I must agree that hypocrisy jumps out. The Tánaiste talked about a humanitarian crisis. The cost of the sanctions greatly exceeds the cost of the humanitarian aid that is being sent, and there is a serious question about that humanitarian aid and its origin. South Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, have been mentioned and I could refer to many more. The Minister is clapping himself on the back because this was an incremental decision. It was a slow decision to become one of the best boys in the European class, rather than standing with our neutral voice for peace. The constitution that was introduced in Venezuela in 1999 has the mechanisms within it for bringing about a peaceful solution. If we were genuinely interested in bringing peace to Venezuela and not in taking oil from it or supporting America as it takes oil from it, we would stand up as a neutral country and set in place the means to bring peace to that country. The hypocrisy is simply appalling. I understand why the Minister stuck to his script because if he had moved from it he would have been in serious trouble with his conscience on this matter.

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