Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I offer solidarity to those players. It was a wonderful tournament and we all wish everyone well at the end of it.

I will raise an issue that I bring up from time to time, a matter on which I always ask for a debate but that has not happened yet. That matter is the continuing use by US troops of Shannon Airport. I was at a well-attended protest yesterday. We need to reflect on where we are in terms of Shannon Airport and its use by the US military. Since the attacks of 11 September 2001, it is estimated that 5 million deaths have occurred, including the death of 1 million children. We are, unfortunately, culpable because we continue to facilitate the movement of US military through Shannon. Some 17,000 troops have already moved through Shannon this year. We continue to allow planes sending troops to war zones to land. Mid-air refuelling aircraft help the planes that are bombing to refuel so that they can continue to bomb, as they did last month in Syria and Iraq.

I would like a debate on the issue and again ask the Leader to organise one. It is frustrating to hear people rightly speaking about human rights but determined to ignore what has been happening in Shannon for far too long. I am proud to believe we should be a neutral country but we are not neutral in practice.

In a similar vein, I again bring up the issue of the TRIPS waiver because for the life of me I cannot understand the Government's stance on this issue. People are dying. As I said last week, and as emerged at the recent G7 conference, the people in Cornwall who are vaccinated outnumber the people vaccinated in the 24 poorest countries in Africa. For reasons I do not understand, our Government is refusing to support the call for a TRIPS waiver. There will be a crucial meeting of the World Trade Organization on 27 July. It is crucial that Ireland stands up for the people of the world. It is, frankly, immoral and indefensible to continue to hide behind big pharma and not be strong on this issue. I call on the Leader not on a party political basis but on the basis of what we should all be able to agree on in this Chamber. I call on the Government to stand firm with the people of the world by calling for the waiver of intellectual property rights because as all of us will agree, no one is safe until everyone is safe.