Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Se\u00e1n Crowe TD, has described the presence of the Irish naval vessel, the L\u00c9 Samuel Beckett, at an international arms fair in London, following their high profile refugee rescue missions, as totally inappropriate and insensitive. Crowe also said the decision to send the ship raises serious contradictions in the Government\u2019s stated policy of neutrality.<\/p>\n
Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) is the world\u2019s biggest arms fair. \u00a0DSEI has been accused several times over the years of facilitating the sale of banned equipment, including weapons designed for torture and cluster munitions, and the weapons systems on display at this event include Israeli \u2018battle tested\u2019 weapons that have been indiscriminately used on Palestinian civilians.<\/p>\n
Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need to have a degree in international relations to enable you to see the glaring contradictions of sending an Irish naval vessel, which has rightly been lauded for its role in saving the 2,818 people refugees fleeing from war and conflict, turning up at world\u2019s largest international weapons fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an appalling and unwanted decision. It was also completely insensitive to those distraught individuals who the L\u00c9 Samuel Beckett saved in the Mediterranean, many who were fleeing conflict and have lost loved ones to the type of weapons being sold at this fair. The L\u00c9 Samuel Beckett should not have taken part in an arms fair that will fuel future conflicts.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow is it anyway morally right or justifiable that Ireland and its Defence Forces should support the sale and promotion of these weapons of war? The weapons being sold at this fair prop up dictators, despots, and allow apartheid, discrimination and inequality to be enforced. They have reduced cities rubble and create a situation where there are over 65 million refugees in the world today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe colossal sums being spent on these same weapons of war could and should be used to eradicate poverty, hunger, and inequality right across the globe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government\u2019s decision to send one of its flagship vessels and crew to be displayed alongside these weapons of conflict is appalling.<\/p>\n
\u201cSinn F\u00e9in has written to the Minister for Defence asking him to clarify the grounds and rational for sending the L\u00c9 Samuel Beckett to this reprehensible arms fair.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Se\u00e1n Crowe TD, has described the presence of the Irish naval vessel, the L\u00c9 Samuel Beckett, at an international arms fair in London, following their high profile refugee rescue missions, as totally inappropriate and insensitive. Crowe also said the decision to send the ship raises serious contradictions in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167,195,79,173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defence-forces","category-department-of-defence","category-neutrality","category-refugees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3247,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246\/revisions\/3247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}