Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

"War is a relic of barbarism only possible because we are governed by a ruling class with barbaric ideas." That was said by James Connolly as he looked at the conflagration that was the First World War. How apt it is now. We have been here previously. People are saying this is something new but, unfortunately, it is a feature of history, including the world wars, the Holocaust, Srebrenica, the 30th anniversary of which is coming up shortly, and Rwanda. Colonialism and genocide go back centuries. The indigenous native Americans had genocide committed against them, as did so many others.

The barbaric ruling class in this case comprises the US, which is funding Israel's barbarism; the EU, which is actively sending arms to the Israelis and turning a blind eye; the UK; and the so-called Gulf and Middle Eastern Muslim states that have been completely complicit in what is being done to the Palestinian people.

The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Glastonbury is the problem. Apparently, "Death, death to the IDF" is a shocking thing to say but it is not a shocking thing to say when kids are being killed for sport. Naturally, you do not want that army to continue. I offer solidarity to those artists who are using their platforms, potentially suffering commercially and facing terrorism laws in the UK. They are risking sales. I remember Sinéad O'Connor, who was somebody else who took a part.

I do not have time to make all the points I want to but I will mention oxycodone. That it now seems that the Israelis are deliberately putting opioid drugs into flour is disgusting.

I also want to put on the record Francesca Albanese's list of companies that have blood on their hands by profiting from this barbarism. Any TD going to 4 July celebrations has a lot to answer for in rewarding the US for what it is doing. I do not have time to name all of the relevant companies, but I will mention Palintir, IBM, Google and Facebook, which have tax-free status in Ireland. Shame on the Irish Government for not taking them to task.

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