Paul Murphy accuses government of prioritising arms over disabled

This Saturday, Taoiseach, disabled people and the Affordable Ireland campaign will be on the streets, demanding an emergency payment after your government took over 1,400 euros from them in the last budget. So far, the government has refused to concede. No money for disabled people. No money for SNAs until people power force you back. No money for electricity credits. What is there money for? The arms industry, to develop an Irish arms industry and to give to the French arms industry. The French media is reporting that we will be spending public money, a billion euros, on armoured vehicles, tanks and a howitzer. Taoiseach, who supplied weapons to Israel for the slaughter of Palestinians, will be the main recipient. It is part and parcel of an agenda of militarisation and dismantling neutrality. You look at the maritime security strategy launched this morning. It is a shameful abandonment of any independent foreign policy, instead committing us to deep military cooperation with the old colonial powers of Britain and France, advocating further integration with NATO and using huge amounts of public money to defend the infrastructure of big tech companies. The strategy refers to, I quote, our responsibilities and commitments to support the security and defence of Europe. When did we sign up for that, Taoiseach? That sounds awfully like a mutual defence pact, when the protocol associated with the Lisbon Treaty explicitly stated no common defence involved. Again and again and again, the document refers positively to NATO. It says, I quote, Ireland can play a positive role in supporting greater EU-NATO cooperation. Action 4.6 is foster relations with NATO in the maritime security space. Action 4.8 is pursue opportunities to participate in joint expeditionary force activities. The JEF is 10 NATO countries led by Britain. Is that one of the reasons you want to abolish the triple lock? As a neutral country, Taoiseach, why should we support greater EU-NATO cooperation? NATO is made up of states who overwhelmingly supported, armed, financed Israel's genocide in Gaza. It's led by Donald Trump, who just in the last two months has kidnapped the president of a sovereign country, has threatened to invade Greenland, and is trying to dismantle the UN and replace it with a so-called Board of Peace, with himself as the chairman for his life. This is a strategy written for the big tech companies, who want us to pay to protect their cables, by the arms lobbyists, who want our money for their weapons, and by Britain and France. Action 2.1 refers to developing a trusted network of critical underwater infrastructure stakeholders, which is to include industry. Taoiseach, who are you talking about? Are you talking about big tech companies, or are you talking about arms companies? This state was born out of a struggle against British imperialism. It's why people have a deep connection to an independent foreign policy, a consistent opposition to all imperialism and support for neutrality. Why are you throwing all of this away? First of all, the SROI were very clear that the two lowest deciles in income terms benefited the most from the recent budget, in terms of the supports for children, and in terms of those with disabilities. And embedded policies and allocations were in terms of social protection budget, in terms of investment in disability services, and in education and health, were all designed for the long term to support those with disabilities. And the idea that there's no money, you said, which is a complete untruth, $13 billion has been invested in education alone this year. So this idea, no money for children with disabilities, and we're now going into full-scale funding for arms and disability. It is hyperbole. It is exaggeration beyond belief. And you need to cop on, Deputy, with this kind of nonsense and propagandisation of what are very basic necessities for an island nation to protect itself and to protect vital economic infrastructure. And I'd be very clear to you, say, I mean, I don't know what you have against big tech in terms of its employment content. I mean, you seem to hate companies that employ thousands of people in this country. You seem to have an agenda against major companies that employ thousands and thousands of people. Now, I don't agree with you. I was in a company last week, Apple and Cork. 6,000 people employed. I was in Cork in the 1980s as a student, 17% unemployment. I witnessed all the companies like Ford's Dunlop's closing, Verome Dockyard closing, Sunbeam Woolsey closing, thousands of jobs lost. It was a very difficult decade. I've never lost the memory of it in terms of what it was like in the city of Cork and in many cities across the country. And part of the renovation and rejuvenation, if you mightn't like it, was the fact that the likes of Microsoft came to this country. In 1985, Microsoft, they're here nearly 40 years more, and Apple in 1980. And they've grown. But its workers have benefited. Ordinary people who have opportunities of careers have benefited from that. Now, we can be critical. We have to stand back and analyse, etc., etc., the agendas. But these are the basic facts for ordinary people that you're supposed to be representing. So when we say we want to protect critical undersea infrastructure, if anything happened to cables, if anything happened to gas connectors with Britain, we wouldn't have an economy in 10 days in terms of the gas interconnection. So are you saying we shouldn't cooperate with Britain to protect the gas interconnectors with the United Kingdom? We should just ignore it? Are you saying we should ignore all of our European partners in protecting undersea critical infrastructure, such as subsea cables, such as the interconnected with France that will be completed in the next year or two, which will guarantee energy security to our people? Thank you, Tisha. In what planet are you on? Now, Deputy Murphy, please respond. The ordinary people of this country... Thank you, Tisha. Time is up. ...jobs, energy security, and an opportunity of economic participation. The planet I'm on, Tisha, is a planet where you introduced a budget that costs income for disabled people by €1,400. Absolutely shameful. The planet I'm on is where you introduced a budget which, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office, increases significantly the rates of child poverty, increases significantly the rates of poverty amongst older people, decreases the income of the lowest, the poorest people in this country by 4.4%. That's the planet that I'm on. They're all facts from the Parliamentary Budget Office. And the same planet where you are scaremongering to justify giving €1 billion to the French arms industry. The same people who have facilitated, enabled, created the weapons for the genocide. Yes, we think you should not have military cooperation with big Western imperialist powers. We should not have military cooperation with NATO. We should not have military cooperation with Britain. We should not have military cooperation with France. Of course not. We should be neutral. The best defence that we have is a consistent position of neutrality whereby we call out imperialism, we call out attacks on human rights no matter where they take place. We have the position that Connolly put forward, neither King nor Kaiser, which today means neither Washington nor Moscow, neither Brussels nor Beijing, but in cent stand up for ordinary people in this country. We've been involved in peacekeeping in Lebanon with Poland. Poland's a member of NATO, by the way. Are you saying we shouldn't be involved in peacekeeping in Lebanon with Poland? Polbat? Interoperability is key. They must use the same equipment, the same weaponry. The idea that we'd be involved in a peacekeeping mission with different countries and have different systems, different equipment, makes no sense. You did say that. Deputy, it's not... Again, you're interrupting. When you don't like the answer, you interrupt. That's what you're saying because, according to Deputy Murphy, we should stand alone in isolation, talk to nobody, talk to nobody at all apparently, and we'll be able to procure, we'll have all the in-house expertise, and so on and so on and so on. The truth is, Deputy Murphy doesn't believe in having an army at all. That is actually the truth. I asked you that some time back here and you were silent in response to it because your concept of militarisation, we don't need armies. That is your view. Sorry now. Time is up. Thank you, Taoiseach. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice. I see where you're coming from, that we shouldn't... Time is up, Taoiseach. Thank you. Deputy Fitzmaurice is on his feet. We should go back to the hurley sticks. Deputy...