David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Following on from Senator O'Brien, I ask that we might take, on Thursday perhaps, a half-hour debate to pass No. 12, which concerns violence in the Congo. It will cost us nothing but will give support to those brave people, including Irish people, who are working there to prevent this kind of violence. I will reserve my comments on the Social Welfare Bill for the debate later today.

I am glad Senator O'Keeffe raised the issue of the killings at Sandy Hook, which were appalling. It highlights the problem of violence, which is not confined to the United States of America. Many years ago, Professor Skinner demonstrated how when the population of rats increases beyond a certain level, violence breaks out endemically. The same is true of humans. We are seeing this type of mass turning on innocent victims all over the world, including in China. It has been said that gun culture in America is a problem. I do not understand how a gun can be connected to culture. It is not connected to my understanding of culture. It is a culture of death. Americans are a frontier people and go back to that all the time but they should properly confront their history. Their country was founded upon the massacre of the indigenous people. A gun, the Winchester rifle, played a crucial part in that. That needs to be looked at.

One can see the impact of the removal of the human element from the equation. For example, the drone mentality under President Obama which links into video games. I never thought that 20 years after I opposed censorship of videos in this House I would again be speaking of the need for debate on the desensitisation that occurs when children are exposed to games in which they are rewarded for inflicting violence and obliterating people. I was horrified to hear Mr. Henry McKean say on "Newstalk" that the most popular games among children of a school in my area which he visited were the most violent ones and others in which people are hurt. Children are innocent. They say these things honestly. We need to honestly confront this problem. People must first be dehumanised before they can kill. We heard recently that civilians in the North of Ireland had been declared to be legitimate targets. We also heard through the media that a nurse in London had taken her life because she was declared fair game. I do not blame the two hosts of the Australian station because they are part of a system and were also desensitised. Behind this lies the idea that people can be stripped of their humanity and have violence inflicted upon them. This can be done through the media or with drones.

The issue of rendition was raised in this House a number of years ago by a number of Senators, including the then Leader. Various sources denied this was happening. I draw their attention to the case last week in which Sami al Saadi was awarded ¤2.2 million. He was kidnapped and tortured in the most brutal fashion, with the assistance of the British. His wife and family were also kidnapped. Sir Mark Allen who was responsible at the British end sent a telegram to his Libyan counterpart congratulating him on not paying for the air cargo. That is the way the wife and children of Mr. al Saadi were described by Sir Mark Allen, an arch hypocrite who blogs as a Christian. We need to confront the problem of violence and not only in the context of America, although tragically America is ahead of the rest of us in this matter.