Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I may be. I re-echo Deputy Boyd Barrett's comments about the Taoiseach's attack on Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party and the notion of anti-Semitism. It is the height of inaccurate populism on the Taoiseach's part. It is totally inaccurate and he could serve himself better.

The Government's decision and the decision of 23 governments of the EU to recognise Guaidó as the interim President of Venezuela is shocking. It walks roughshod over international law. There is no basis in international law for the position that our Government took on Venezuela. There is absolutely zero basis for it. In 2013, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, FAO, included Venezuela in a group of 18 nations that had cut their number of hungry people by half in the preceding 12 years. We could not blame them for that. The FAO said that Venezuela reduced the number of people suffering from malnutrition from 13.5% of the population in 1990 to 1992 to less than 5% by 2012. Some 19% of the children in Dublin are at risk of poverty. Similarly, the United Nations Economic and Social Council published a report in 2015, two years into the presidency of Maduro, that said the council: "Takes note with satisfaction of the progress made by the [Venezuelan Government] in combating poverty and reducing inequality". Some people think that Venezuela was a better place when inequality was thriving and the income per head of population was going through the roof because of oil, but only a few people had it. The crime of Maduro and Chávez is that they spent a fortune trying to reduce poverty. Does the Minister of State know that they have built 2.5 million social housing units since 2015? Maybe the Government should get them over here. Even Deputy Durkan would agree with that because we are refusing to build social housing units in this country.

International pressure on Venezuela will not help the crisis in Venezuela. Venezuela had loads of problems. Is the place well run? No it is not, no more than Ireland is not well run and France is not well run as far as I am concerned. The Government is not raising a word about the economic sanctions from the US. The Government is saying it does not support military intervention but US sanctions are an intervention that is just as vile as military intervention. The so called humanitarian aid that was orchestrated on the Colombian border turned out to be a total sham. As that has failed, what the US will carry out now is the same as what it is taking part in in Yemen. It will starve the population into submission. The Government should be calling for an end to US sanctions at EU level. The Government should be calling for mediation between the different parties out there. We are not saying that Maduro is brilliant, no more than we will not say that the present Taoiseach is brilliant. The Government and the opposition there should be brought together. There should be a neutral entity from Europe involved and there should be mediation. The US should stop what it is doing because it is totally in breach of international law.

I do not have an awful lot of time but I want to make a point on Iran. Our factories are stocked with beef. They are packed with it and we cannot sell it. Why will the Government not open the embassy in Iran? Every western European country worth talking about has opened its embassy in Iran. We are saying that we will not go there because of US sanctions. Does the Minister of State know that the soya bean sales from the US to Iran have increased under Trump? The soya bean sales from the US to Iran have increased because they do what they like. The US has sold umpteen Boeing jets to Iran in the last four years. Does the Minister of State know why? They do so because there is money in it. The Government is cowering under them and it will not reopen its embassy. The Government should cop on to itself. The Government would do the agricultural sector a favour by reopening the embassy.

As for the Golan Heights, how bad does it have to get? The Government has no problem dealing with Saudi Arabia, which has put 13 million people at risk of starvation in Yemen. It has no problem dealing with the US, which has created untold havoc all over the planet and it has no problem dealing with Israel. Now the Government is actually complaining about Israel annexing the Golan Heights. Was it not an awful pity that the Government abstained at the UN vote last year when that subject came up? Why did the Government do that? Where is the logic in it? What is the sanity of it?

The Government is incredibly damaged at the moment because of its refusal to deal with the children's hospital properly. It is insane. The Government is refusing to save €400 million or €500 million by revisiting the contract because it is politically expedient for the Government to ignore the problem and hope it goes away. The Government is seriously damaged by that project.

See this speech in context