Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In less than a month, COP27 will take place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. It is hard to believe it has been almost one year since Greta Thunberg famously described COP26 as "blah, blah, blah". I have just read an article by Naomi Klein describing COP27 as "blood, blood, blood", because it is taking place in one of the most brutal and oppressive regimes in the world, in Egypt, where about 60,000 political prisoners face brutal torture daily by this oppressive regime. Many of them have been censored in silence from even writing letters to their families concerning the climate crisis. In one case of a famous political prisoner, a letter to his mother outlining his concerns about 30 million people being displaced in Pakistan by the recent floods was intercepted and censored.

Does the Taoiseach agree with Naomi Klein that this summit is going well beyond greenwashing a polluting state and is actually greenwashing a police state? When world leaders meet on Thursday, 27 October, will he raise this issue, along with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, and ensure the Irish State will give no succour or solace to the COP27 cover-up of this most brutal, oppressive and anti-environmental regime in that part of the world?

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