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

It is utterly shameful that, after the rhetoric during the elections, after the raising of the Palestinian flag and after the criticism of Israel, the Government is supporting Ursula von der Leyen for President of the European Commission . It means that all of that was really for show for the Irish public. The Government was willing to criticise but then turned a blind eye to this woman who supports genocide, gave a green light to Israel's genocide on Palestine and continues to implement policies which see European taxpayers' money going into the hands of Israeli armaments corporations and which make life more difficult for Palestinians. It is shameful that the Irish Government supports Ursula von der Leyen. It is shameful that the former Taoiseach went on the radio and attempted to play the green jersey card, putting pressure on Irish MEPs to vote in favour of this genocidaire in the European Parliament, saying that it would be better if they do because maybe Deputy Michael McGrath will get a better, more important job out of it. Either genocide and horror at what is happening in Palestine for months mean something or it is simply for show and for some small element of the Government covering itself politically.

In the past week, we have seen the horrific footage of the Israeli army tying hostages as human shields on the front of an Israeli army vehicle. One hears much about human shields - about Hamas supposedly using human shields by simply existing in Gaza - with Israel literally using Palestinian human shields on Israeli vehicles.

There is also a campaign, for months now, of bombing south Lebanon, killing hundreds of people. Nearly 100,000 people have been displaced from the border area in south Lebanon and the Israeli propaganda machine has been in full flow for the past couple of days to try to make a target out of Beirut's main airport. It is via the George Bush-esque claims that weapons are being stored in Beirut airport, with no evidence, in an attempt to manufacture consent for a future bombing of Lebanon's capital. Months ago, Netanyahu promised to turn Beirut into Gaza and he is now sending Israeli troops north to the border, indicating that they may be preparing to begin an all-out war on Lebanon. There appear to be no red lines, certainly, for the US and Ursula von der Leyen, but also no red lines for the Government, which is not willing to withhold support from Ursula von der Leyen for her support for the genocide.

I will make a point about the European elections. There was much talk about the centre holding. It is utter nonsense which attempts to ignore the reality of the rise of the far right. Is it any wonder, when the European bureaucracy, European powers and European Commission are supporting a far-right regime in Israel, that you have the rise of the far right within the European Union? Right across the European Union, far-right forces got 20% of the vote - the second most supported force in the European elections. They have gone from barely being able to form a group in the European Parliament at the turn of the century to now having the second largest number of MEPs divided between three different groups and becoming the first force in Italy, France, Hungary, Belgium, Austria and Poland and the second force in Germany and the Netherlands. It should send alarm bells to all those who defend democratic rights and workers' rights because that is what the far right are coming for.

Let us be clear that the centre right are no opposition to the far right. I went to a meeting yesterday with an activist from the NPA in France and she referred to Macron having rolled out the red carpet for the far right. That has happened right across Europe. Policies of austerity, policies of not protecting people from the cost-of-living crisis, policies of attacking workers, attacking pensions, etc., and then the centring of migration as if this is the problem, have opened the door to the far right. A perfect example is the EU migration pact, which will see more people killed. Over 3,100 people died in the Mediterranean last year. More will die as a result of this pact raising the borders even higher, to no benefit of any ordinary person in Europe, regardless of his or her skin colour.

What is happening after the European elections is the door is being opened even further to the far right trying to differentiate between the good far right which supports NATO and the European project and the bad far right which opposes NATO. In particular, that is von der Leyen looking for the support of Giorgia Meloni, scandalously seeking to slow down an official EU report criticising Italy for eroding media freedoms. She is willing to turn a blind eye to what is happening in Italy with the erosion of media freedoms because she wants Ms Meloni's support to become European Commission President again, just like she has the support of the Irish Government.

See this speech in context