Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Minister, fáilte isteach agus comhghairdeas on your new portfolio.

I want to address section 2. I commend my colleagues in the Civil Engagement Group on bringing forward the Bill. I am proud to support it. Section 2(1)(a) seeks to oblige the Minister not to provide exemptions for aircraft where an application has been made with respect to military or dual-use items destined for the State of Israel. Let us consider the geography involved. Ireland is the largest and busiest air corridor between north Africa, the Middle East and the United States of America. Some 75% of all air traffic between the United States and Europe, north Africa and the Middle East goes through Irish-controlled airspace. Based on that set of circumstances, the vast majority of weapons, munitions and dual-use equipment bound for US forces in the Middle East and for Israel will pass through Irish-controlled airspace. We know that for a fact.

I have a flight radar app on my phone. I can see that, on a 24-7 basis, there are aircraft at 37,000 ft transiting through our airspace carrying dual-use weapons and equipment bound for Israel. The United States has spent something like $300 billion providing Israel with weapons and munitions since the appalling attacks of 7 October perpetrated by Hamas.

I want to put section 2 in a context that Irish people can relate to. If put into a vehicle in order to make a car bomb, a piece of high explosives the size of my mobile phone or a cigarette packet would, when detonated, make the car unrecognisable. The vehicle would have to be sent to forensics to find out the make and model. High explosives are extremely powerful. After the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 1974, where 34 Irish people were killed and 300 injured, one of the primary questions was where the time-powered unit, explosives and bulk charge had come from. We know they came from British forces. The time-powered unit was one of a standard British army design. The families of the victims of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings want to know where the high explosives and time-powered unit came from, where they were assembled and how they got to Dublin and Monaghan.

More recently, in the inquiry under way into the Omagh bombing, the families of the 29 people who were killed, as well as the unborn babies, and the 220 people injured want to know where the bomb, time-powered unit and bulk charge came from and where it was placed into the vehicle. They want to know through what territory it transited. It came from the Republic and transited north to Omagh, where the vehicle was left. The families want to know from the Government what we knew and what the primary intelligence agency of the State, namely, An Garda Síochána, knew.

The people in Gaza and families of those who have been killed will want to know where all of the high explosives that have rained down on them, killing 48,500 Gazans and mutilating and disabling tens of thousands more, came from. A cigarette pack-sized explosive in a car bomb at the point of detonation generates a heat signal of several thousand degrees centigrade for only a flash. However, those within range of that will suffer horrific burns. A shockwave will pulp internal organs and shatter bones. The shockwave can also cause decapitation and limb separation, which is why we see appalling images from Gaza of infants who have been decapitated being held up. Further out from the point of impact, there will be horrific shrapnel injuries. We cannot see these aircraft flying at 38,000 ft, but that is what they are carrying.They are carrying the methods and weapons of destruction that cause this suffering and killing in Gaza. Senator Ruane mobilised moral philosophy in terms of the epistemic knowledge of wrongdoing. The first principles of all of the moral philosophers - Plato, Aristotle, Kant - say the thing that makes us human and distinguishes us from other creatures is that we have the capacity to do what is right. All of the moral philosophers say that therefore, as human beings, we must do what is right. We cannot be passive bystanders.

Notwithstanding the difficulties Senator Craughwell pointed out, if we can refuse an exemption we should. There is a categorical moral imperative to do so. We can look at the logs chain for some of the weapons that have been transited through Irish airspace. When such a volume of weaponry is supplied, it does not go by surface vessel. It is transported by air because that is the most secure environment in which it can be delivered. The Americans have delivered guided bomb unit mark 39s and mark 84s to Israel. These are 1,000 kg high explosive devices fitted with joint direct attack munition guidance systems. We can imagine what 1,000 kg of high explosives will do in one of the most densely populated urban environments on the planet. What will it do to families who have no shelter other than tents? They might have a thin strip of canvas if they are lucky but they are more likely to use plastic fertiliser-type bags. Not only are these munitions passing through our airspace, and not only are we granting exemptions for the carriage and transmission of these munitions, but under an international agreement, Eurocontrol, we are also paying the air navigation and onward navigation charges. The Irish taxpayer is actually paying for the transit of US military aircraft through our airspace.

Has there ever been reciprocity? Senator Craughwell asked if we would allow the transit of munitions to Myanmar or Islamic State. It would be unlikely because there is no logistics chain that provides for that. In the 1970s we allowed the Cuban military to use Shannon Airport to send troops and munitions to fight in Mozambique. That is not something we should be proud of and nor should we be proud of our complicity in what is happening now at 38,000 ft.

I fully support this Bill. We need to be clear that a genocide is taking place and we know about it. We will be asked what we did and what action we took. There is very little we can do, but this is something we can do. I hope the Minister will support this Bill and it will be enacted. I appreciate the Leas-Chathaoirleach's patience. I thank the Minister for hearing me out.