Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am very happy to support the call for statements on child protection. They should take place this week. It is a serious issue. However, we have asked for some time for the Government to allow for a discussion and questions to the Minister on the use of Shannon by the US military and the use of Irish airspace for the transport of weapons from the US to Israel to kill children in Gaza and Lebanon, as Israel has been doing in Gaza for a year and is doing in Lebanon now, and also on the fact that Israel is now using Irish troops and other peacekeeping troops as human shields, deliberately trying to bring attacks on Irish troops. We need a serious discussion about that. It is shameful that the Taoiseach is going to the US essentially to celebrate the Biden presidency when it is US weapons that have killed those children in Gaza, are killing children in Lebanon and are being fired in Lebanon to try to draw fire onto Irish troops, endangering their lives. The Taoiseach and other members of the Government should be here explaining why we are still enabling the US military which is doing that, or why weapons go through Irish airspace to commit those crimes.

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