Seanad Report: The recent appearance of a Cabinet member at a ceremony in the US marking the return of American forces from Iraq had made it perfectly clear that the Irish Government had committed itself to collaboration with an illegal war, David Norris (Ind) said.
Calling for a debate on the Middle East, particularly on the impact of "the disastrous American policies in this area", Mr Norris said it was completely inappropriate for a Minister to take a salute from a returning American military division, some of whose members had been involved in a massacre of civilians. "We are still supposed to be a neutral country, and to have a Cabinet Minister reviewing these returning troops is an utter disgrace to this country."
Mr Norris said that the debate he was seeking should also encompass the parallel policies being pursued in Israel and Palestine. The Israeli military had last week engaged in the appalling bombing of a jail in Jericho in a state which was not their own. This constituted an act of aggression. "Imagine the situation of the people incarcerated in the jail, locked into their cells, having missiles fired at them from helicopter gun ships, tanks firing shells into them, and being raked by heavy machine gun fire. This is an absolutely outlandish and barbarous way for people to behave," he added.
Pressing for an examination by the House of the operations of the refugee tribunals, Sen Norris said: "I know of people who are alleged to go round the Bar Library gloating that they never let one of them in." He and others had been concerned for some time about matters such as the arbitrary nature of the decisions and the complete lack of accountability or transparency. Evidence had been given in a court case recently that one tribunal member had not one single recorded case of a favourable decision in well over 100 cases.
He said this country was highly unusual in publishing no information about the record "of these people" or about their qualifications. "Under what qualification do they presume in the name of the people of Ireland to take these arbitrary and disgraceful decisions?" asked Sen Norris. "I say that because I have been put in touch with a case in the last week of a man whose partner was murdered in Iraq as a result of an honour killing.
"He managed to flee to this country in danger of his life. He is being returned to Iraq - to Iraq by this Government.
"There is something really rotten there and I think we as a constituent part of the Houses of the Oireachtas ought to be able to inquire into this and say that we need proper professional people making these decisions."