Richard Boyd Barrett: Calls Trump a 'bully' and demands action

Taoiseach, will you and your European colleagues stop soft peddling or worse bending the knee before Donald Trump and finally admit what everybody can see and what some of us have been saying for some time is that Trump is a bully, he's an imperialist and he is a threat to the world and to humanity and that it is time to stand up to this bully and call him out for what he is. His list of crimes and threats and bullying are too long to enumerate but let's just give some of the highlights. He armed a genocide, gave billions to Israel to carry out a genocide over two years, then invited Netanyahu, an indicted war criminal to a New Year's Eve party in his mansion in Mar-a-Lago. You mentioned Putin and what a threat he is. He has now put Putin, an indicted war criminal, on the board of peace for Gaza along with Blair, one of the major architects of the Iraq war which claimed the lives of a million people and of course Netanyahu and Israel, the people who perpetrated the genocide are going to be on the borders of peace as well. He has attacked Venezuela and kidnapped the president and his wife, whatever you think about that regime, and I don't think much. He has no right to attack that regime. He has defended the execution of a 36-year-old mother and writer Renee Good by ICE agents and has sent paramilitary forces into the cities of America to attack people of colour and immigrants. He has threatened Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, Canada, Iran. He pretended he was interested in Ukraine because of the warmongering of Putin, which clearly isn't true, but actually exposed that what he wanted was the rare earth minerals from Ukraine. He is threatening an economic war and a trade war that is driving up the cost of living for working-class people in America and threatens to do the same to hard-press working-class people across the world. And just to add to it all, his pal is Elon Musk who profits from selling child abuse material and misogynistic material on the internet. The disgusting list goes on. He admits his strategy is imperialist in the national security strategy where they state the U.S. will assert political, economic and military power over the Western Hemisphere. He quotes the Monroe Doctrine which was used to justify interventions in Nicaragua, Bolivia, in Panama, in Ecuador, in Iran, Iraq in the 1950s. You can go through the list. So please, tell me Taoiseach, are you going to stand up to the bully? You're not seriously going to go to the White House with Shamrock this year and celebrate our national day with them. Surely you're going to tell U.S. troops to get out of Shannon Airport and you're not going to go along with the militarisation agenda that Trump is urging on Europe. Time is up, Deputy T-Shok to respond. Well, first instance, Deputy, as I said earlier, we are in a very serious situation. And our national interest, quite frankly, is to protect Irish workers, fundamentally. And we would behave accordingly to do that and to achieve that. And to make sure that we can get a reasonable frame of an international legal framework through the UN, through getting countries to adhere to the international rule of law. The world is in a very, very bad place. Thousands and thousands of people are losing their lives all over the world. Just instant Ukraine, for example. Now, Europe did work with the U.S. Why? Why? You condemn, you correctly said, well, what has stopped Russia from taking over Ukraine in its entirety? Let's be honest. What has stopped it? You might like to admit it. U.S. Firepower has. U.S. Intelligence has, along with others in the European Union and the United Kingdom. That's the reality. I mean, if you want to abandon all of that, that's fine. And I don't agree with it. I agree with you in a sense, I don't agree with spheres of influence. I don't agree with the Monroe Doctrine. But you're suggesting we open up to that. And I don't think you mean it. But those are the implications. Because Russia takes Ukraine. Is that what we want? Russia takes Moldova? Iran does what it does? I mean, when we discuss the Middle East in this house, I never hear criticism of Iran. Never. Check Iran. No, no, no, no. In terms of the malign influence Iran has had in the Middle East. Hezbollah, Hamas, you name it. Houthis, in terms of trade routes, economy. We never hear it really, to any great extent or any consistent extent. We're now hearing from Iran potentially 4,000 citizens murdered. Up to 12,000 could have been murdered. Because we don't know what the internet blackout and so on like that. And it's very, very difficult for citizens in Iran who want to adhere to the principles of freedom of association, freedom of speech. In Sudan, thousands and thousands have lost their lives. In horrendous situations. With other external powers also being influential and negatively impactful on the lives of ordinary people in Sudan. And we can go elsewhere in terms of violations of international law and so forth. And the only, our guiding light is and has to be adherence to international rule of law to the United Nations. And it's imperfect as it is. And I agree with Antonia Gutierrez. The Security Council is long outdated with the post-World War II scenario there in terms of the powers that are on the Security Council. So this is a broader issue that affects the entire globe and many malign actors involved. Taoiseach, I have and I do and I will again condemn the Iranian regime for the violent repression of protesters and for shutting off the internet and the censorship of what's going on. As I condemn and have condemned Putin for the illegal invasion of Ukraine. You wouldn't be presenting them with shamrock, would you? But you are going to go over and present shamrock to Trump. Even now. And it has taken a threat to Greenland because it impinges on the interests of the EU. Isn't it the truth that this is the consequence of you remaining silent and of the EU remain silent? Or even worse, echoing and reinforcing what Trump has done. Or at least being silent in the face of the genocide in Gaza or the actions in Venezuela or the threats against Canada. All of the threats elsewhere and the silence of the world. It has now come back to bite Europe. So I ask you, what are you going to do about it? Surely you are not going to go over to the White House and celebrate our national day and handle shamrock? Will you tell the US troops to get out of Shannon when they are threatening the world in the way they are? And will you not dance to the tune of Trump who is saying we should spend more on militarisation, that we do not go down the road of militarisation and warmongering which he represents? Ireland hasn't been silent on the Middle East. Ireland hasn't been silent on Gaza. And that is recognised around the world. No matter who it annoyed or may annoy, we have stood firm on a whole range of issues in the context of the Middle East and will remain so. And in the context of the US, up to 40 million people in America claiming Irish descent. We have always had a very strong relationship with the US, irrespective of who the President happens to be or who is in power on the hill at any given time. And that has underpinned a very significant economic relationship which puts bread on the table of Irish workers. It is the reality. And it is easy for me to make grand statements and for you and everybody else. Grand statements do not put bread on the table. Easy to do, Deputy, but it does not put bread on the table. We need cool heads. We need to be calm about this. We need to be firm on principle. We need to be showing solidarity with our European Union Member States and no issue with doing that. I think it is the right thing to do. And that has to be our approach. Thank you.