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

The main process that is taking place across Europe, which is reflected in the council conclusions, is a process of rapid and dangerous militarisation under the leadership of US imperialism. It is a process that has different aspects and national specifics but it is heading in the same direction in all countries. For example, Germany is massively increasing its military spending, Finland and Sweden have applied to join NATO and increased their military spending and in this country we are seeing an attempt to de facto and later de jureget rid of what is left of neutrality. That is clear.

In this country, since Putin's horrendous invasion of Ukraine, there have been quite rapid moves to go much further than any previous Government has gone, in walking well over the line of neutrality. We have had the sending of military aid to another country. It was the first time the EU sent military aid to a third country. Ireland participated and then said, "Oh no do not worry, we paid for the non-lethal bits." It did not change the overall package of military aid. It is a fig leaf for the Government to hide behind. Ireland has now repeatedly participated in meetings of what is described by the US Secretary of Defense as a NATO alliance, which is the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, an organisation that meets at either NATO headquarters in Brussels or NATO Allied Air Command at the Ramstein air base in Germany. Ireland is now sending troops to participate in a military assistance mission organised by the EU with the express purpose of enhancing the military capability of the Ukrainian armed forces.

It is not enough for the Government to be able to walk all over any concept of neutrality in practice; it also wants to get rid of it in principle, in something the Government is politically bound by. That is why consultative forums are being established. It is revealing that the Minister for Foreign Affairs stated slightly more than a month ago that we could have a citizens' assembly. Instead what we have is national consultative forums made up of experts supposedly inspired by the principles of the citizens' assembly but which most importantly avoid the key principle of the citizens' assembly, that is, a random selection of citizens. Instead we will have a stage-managed, top-down process in which we will hear from experts, some of whom will be funded by the armaments industry to say why we all must be mature and so on and move on from neutrality. That is linked to the essential essence of Joe Biden's speech to the joint sitting of the Oireachtas last week, in which he effectively spoke about a new cold war. He stated that the key struggle in the world today is between democracy and autocracy and that the US knows that Ireland is on the side of democracy versus autocracy. Of course, Joe Biden was not actually talking about democracy and autocracy. They are just words he uses to mean the West and the East. President Biden did not mention his ongoing support for the apartheid State of Israel, the state attacks on Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the state-endorsed attacks by far-right settlers, endorsed by a far-right government, on Palestinians. There was no mention of US military support of Saudi Arabia and its killing of more than 20,000 Yemeni civilians or of the fact that a majority of dictatorships in the world today receive military aid from US imperialism. Clearly what is happening is the lining up of the so-called West versus the East and the Government wants us to be part of the US-led NATO camp.

5 o’clock

We should reject both strands of imperialism and the multiple strands of imperialism that exist in the world today. We should reject all forms of oppression and consistently stand against it. With regard to Ukraine, we should continue to condemn Putin's horrendous invasion of Ukraine and the denial of the Ukrainian people's right to self-determination but we also should call for peace. An incredible 300,000 people, according to some reports, have died in Ukraine. The lines of war have barely moved in months, more and more weapons are being thrown into the battlefield and ordinary people are dying as a consequence. We should raise our voice for peace.

Finally, I want to raise the question of Nord Stream, a question that somehow nobody wants to find an answer to. Who is responsible for the destruction of Nord Stream, which saw gas prices rise dramatically and which caused the biggest single discharge of methane the world has ever seen? It seems that nobody is interested in finding out who is responsible. In fact, the US and several allies abstained on a recent vote at the UN Security Council to block a resolution providing for an independent, international investigation to find out who is responsible for the attack on Nord Stream. Did the Government ask that of Joe Biden? I seriously doubt it.

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