Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government is not expanding our horizons; it is narrowing our horizons. The Government is narrowing our influence to scope that is entirely condensed within the European Union, failing to recognise that Ireland's reach has gone and should go much further. That issue and the difficulty with all of that is that this tying us in to an EU policy framework now extends to a militaristic agenda that I have huge fears of. We are witnessing a drive towards militarisation that we have seen at different points in history. I cannot find any one of those points in history where there was the arms race of the type we are seeing now that had a happy ending. Our own Defence Forces are in a perilous situation. They have been decimated by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. It is quite sickening to hear representatives from those parties actually point to the weakness in our Defence Forces that they have overseen as an excuse for the need for us to abandon what has been a position of neutrality that has served Ireland and allowed us to serve the world very well. I can point to moments in history when Ireland stood out as a voice for peace, conflict resolution and the rights to freedom and self-determination.

I reiterate that they are principles and a legacy that were lost in the Oval Office last week. When our Taoiseach had an opportunity to speak truth to power and to make an appeal - whether it was heard or not is irrelevant - to the institution that has the most likely opportunity to change things in respect of what is happening in the Middle East, he barely uttered a word on the need to protect international law and to tell Israel to stop the flagrant and ongoing violations of international law. Less than 48 hours later, we witnessed the Israeli bombardment on the innocent men, women and children of Gaza recommence.

It is utterly shameful that Ireland had the opportunity to speak the truth and failed to take it. Some people have taken issue with the fact Sinn Féin did not participate in the social events in the White House on St. Patrick's Day. I notice none of the representatives had anything to say about the SDLP and the Alliance Party taking a similar positions. What that points to------

See this speech in context