Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In his speech the Minister of State said:

We recognise that not all those participating in the protest were non-violent. Stones were thrown, Molotov cocktails were hurled and some protestors attempted to breach the border fence when there had been explicit warnings of the consequences of doing so. There have also been reports that many of those shot were members of Hamas.

If this was a British Army commander speaking after Bloody Sunday I would ask the Minister of State to spot the difference. That is exactly the justification it gave for its actions on Bloody Sunday. It is outrageous that an Irish Government Minister of State read out those words today. This is the defence the British Army gave for Bloody Sunday. Whoever drafted that speech today on behalf of our State should be ashamed of themselves.