Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you very much. I will spare the Tánaiste advice on Brexit, although I know the summit tomorrow will be dominated by it. I am sure he has enough wise fellows telling him what to do, but it is important that we put some other issues back on the table, as the two previous speakers have done.

The corporate capture of the European Union and national governments has rarely been as evident, while the rationale for our decisions, in the context of foreign policy, has scarcely been so utterly and transparently false in many ways. As in so many regressive policy areas, from failing in the mitigation of global warming to robbing the global south through our tax haven operations, when it comes to global economic and foreign policy, Ireland leaves much to be desired. Frankly, our positions on Iran and Venezuela are insane. One would think we would have learned something from the disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. The formula is familiar. I refer to former colonies which, as a result of colonisation, have the majority of their economic activities centred on one commodity such as oil, minerals, sugar or whatever else. Some of these countries elect leaders to try to stop the cheap acquisition of these commodities by corporations and businesses in the global north, but more often than not the powerful fight back. Chile is a perfect example. Mr. Allende who was democratically elected nationalised the copper sector in July 1971, but the telecommunications giant ITT, Pepsi-Cola and the copper monopolies put pressure on the US Government to protect their financial interests and sanctions were imposed. The then CIA director, Richard Helms, said he wanted to make the economy of Chile scream and that he was not concerned about the risks involved. The CIA made contact with elements of the military which were seen to oppose Mr. Allende and on 11 September 1973 helped them to overthrow the democratically elected government, install the brutal dictator, General Pinochet, with many US economic advisers, and restore the flow of cheap natural resources to the private sector in America.

The ongoing coup attempt in Venezuela has been taking a similar shape. The Tánaiste and I have spoken about it. As Deputy Clare Daly pointed out, we very much regret the position he took with Mr. Guaidó and believe it was a serious mistake. It was totally in breach of international law and had no standing in international law. The position the European Union took, with the Tánaiste’s support, with Mr. Guaidó did not stack up. Since the Bolivarian revolutionary regime came to power in 1998, the United States has fought constantly and relentlessly to overthrow it and undermined it in a terrible way. Idriss Jazairy, the UN special rapporteur, in speaking about the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures, has said the US-led sanctions against the Venezuelan state-owned oil company and the new sanctions that restrict access to food and medicines are killing Venezuelan citizens, starving others and that it is women and children who suffer the most. The sanctions are illegal under international law and our support for them constitutes the perpetration of economic violence against the people of Venezuela. We have to play a different role. We should be working with governments that want peace, are not violently expansionist in their foreign policy and do not exploit whatever they can around the world for their own financial benefit. We have to play a different role and can be a neutral voice. I know that it is difficult, but our voice can be very significant.

As Deputy Boyd Barrett pointed out, in our lifetime the Israelis have not behaved as poorly with the Palestinians as they have for a number of years and the European Union is doing very little about it. What stop is being put to the activities of Israel? The situation in the Golan Heights is just another example. The truth is that Israel is practising apartheid and carrying out genocide in Palestine and with the European Union we are not doing enough to stop it. I acknowledge that the Tánaiste has been good at speaking out about it at times, but we need to do much more.

A girls' school in Yemen was bombed at the weekend. There are horrific pictures of girls running to try to get away from the bombing. It is a US supported Saudi-UAE coalition that is carrying out unbelievable atrocities in Yemen and we are not doing enough to stop it.

Consider what is happening in Libya. The place is a casino now. There is nothing but suffering and madness there. It all started with a NATO intervention and, unfortunately, we supported it. Even if his voice is a voice in the wilderness against them when the Tánaiste attends the Foreign Affairs Council meetings in Europe, it would mean a great deal for him to speak truth to those powers. He could have a positive impact.

See this speech in context