Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim an-bhuíoch don Cheann Comhairle agus don fhoireann uilig as an obair agus as an gcabhair uilig. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy English, for taking this. I am sure that he will prove his revolutionary credentials soon. In all seriousness, we are dealing with the US economic blockade of Cuba. Many people in this Chamber and outside in Irish society see this as something that is cruel and has been a failure for 60 years. It has not even delivered what it was meant to do by the people who introduced it. It was not exactly JFK's finest hour. We are dealing with significant suffering that has impacted on many people for no real net gain other than internal American politics and keeping certain constituencies happy, especially in Florida. I want to put on the record my solidarity with the Cuban people and also address the unfairness and wrongness of this. We have a seat on the UN Security Council and we are a major player in the European Union. We have to play our part as ourselves and on an international basis in putting on the record the message that this is not working and is not good. We need a viable future for the Cuban people. The only way that that can be done is by lifting this utterly unfair and failed policy of an economic blockade.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 onslaught, harrowing pictures came from many of our European neighbours. People went through significant difficulties and tragedies. As has happened many times before, medical staff from Cuba were airlifted in to stand with front-line defenders, many of them at breaking points, in some of the worst-affected areas. Some of these people made the ultimate sacrifice. This shows significant courage and selflessness. It is how I see the Cuban Revolution and it shows the humanitarian instincts of the Cuban people. They were applauded globally but the United States continues with this absolutely failed and cruel policy. We need to deal with it.

The United Nations General Assembly recently had a resolution against this blockade. Some 184 countries voted to get rid of the blockade, three abstained and two voted in support of maintaining the blockade, namely, the US and Israel. There is no international support for this. It is wrong. We had the Obama regime and a normalisation of diplomatic contacts and lifting of sanctions. We then had the Trump regime and approximately 243 coercive measures were introduced, which were utterly wrong. Even in this pandemic, there is a situation where Cuba may have the vaccines but it cannot necessarily get the needles and other medical paraphernalia required. It is utterly wrong and we need to play our part. We need to put it on the record and to have this blockade lifted.

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