Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Often, when US imperialism is criticised in here, the Taoiseach is quite sensitive about it, it might be fair to say. It appears he thinks the US is a force for good and for human rights and democracy around the world. In that context, I wonder if he saw the interview with John Bolton on CNN yesterday. John Bolton is a senior figure of the US political establishment, a former US Under Secretary of State, a former ambassador to the UN and National Security Advisor. He said the following: "As somebody who has helped plan coups d'état, not here, you know, but other places, it takes a lot of work."

When the CNN journalist asked Mr. Bolton what he was referring to, the latter replied, "I'm not going to get into the specifics", before mentioning Venezuela, saying that the coup there "turned out not to be successful". The journalist pressed further, saying, "I feel like there's other stuff you're not telling me, though [beyond Venezuela]." Mr. Bolton replied, "I'm sure there is." Here we have John Bolton admitting on CNN that he is involved in planning coups on behalf of the US Government. We know about the attempted coup in Venezuela against Maduro and trying to put Guaidó in power, but Mr. Bolton is clearly saying there were others. Does that trouble the Taoiseach at all? Does he think it is okay for the US Administration to be able to go around the world and organise coups d'étatwherever it thinks it appropriate?

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