Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

When I woke up this morning and the radio came on, the very first story talked about the European Council meeting happening today, which has rearmament on a scale that has not been seen for approximately 80 to 90 years as its first item on the agenda. We talked about the fact that our Taoiseach will be going and that loans will be provided so that European powers can buy military equipment, bombs and systems of obliteration. I almost had to look over my head to ensure jets were not passing by as they spoke.

People can clearly sense there is fear, that the world is changing and that things are getting darker. There is fear everywhere. The last time I saw real fear was at a community meeting on Seán McDermott Street last week on special education provision. There were approximately 150 parents there and each one of them was terrified of what would become of their child’s development because they could not access therapeutic services such as occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. I think about the fear I see when people come to meet me looking for basic access to housing or the fear that the son or daughter of an older parent will have when they bring them into the accident and emergency department and find out that it is overcrowded and they will be there for the best part of 12 to 14 hours. There is genuine fear everywhere, but today there will be an assembly of powers to talk about how to address one particular fear, namely, how we purchase weapons of war for the purpose of annihilation.

There seems to be a general sense of eagerness from those who sit opposite me to involve ourselves in this kind of rush to arms, as if that will ever be our space in the world. There is a fantasy beginning to develop that Ireland will somehow be a military power.

See this speech in context