Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will begin with something I meant to say yesterday. I wish to put on record my own support for the Leader in relation to the nonsensical emails that we have received over the past few days. Some of those people will be outside the building today. We do not believe in any of that nonsense and are in full solidarity with the Leader in that regard.

The issue I want to raise today is the plight of the people of Yemen. There was an awful landmark reached yesterday. Ten thousand children have now been killed or maimed since fighting started in March 2015. That is the equivalent of four children every day. According to a UNICEF report, four out of every five children need humanitarian assistance. That is more than 11 million children. The plight of the people of Yemen is horrendous and the elephant in the room is that our neighbours in Britain have sold €20 billion worth of arms to the Saudi authorities to help them to continue to wage their war - aircraft, helicopters, drones, grenades, bombs, missiles and various other countermeasures. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has spoken out about the humanitarian consequences but we have a seat on the United Nations Security Council. I would ask what are we using that seat for if we do not speak out against the horrendous policies of the British Government in relation to that war. They are profiting to the tune of €20 billion worth of equipment. If we are to be on the UN Security Council we must be prepared to use our voice and that does not merely mean stating that the situation is awful and something must be done. I acknowledge that we have contributed valuable aid to alleviate the plight of the people there but, surely to God, if we are on the Security Council, we need to speak out for human rights. I am sorry to say it is another further abject failure of the Government to speak out about what is happening in Yemen, in particular Britain's role in €20 billion worth of weapons to keep the crisis going and to keep children being bombed and suffering and dying, day after day. Surely, when we are on that council, we can do better.