Paul Murphy presses Taoiseach on John Bolton coup claims

Teachta, often when US imperialism is criticised in here you're quite sensitive about it I think might be fair to say. I think it appears that you would think that the US is a force for good, for human rights, for democracy around the world. So in that context I wonder did you see the interview with John Bolton on CNN yesterday. John Bolton is a senior figure of the US political establishment, former US undersecretary. state, former ambassador to the UN, national security adviser. He said the following. He said, as somebody who has helped plan coup d'etat, not here but you know in other places, it takes a lot of work. The CNN journalist asked him what he was referring to. He said, I'm not going to get into the specifics before mentioning Venezuela, saying it turned out not to be successful. Journalists go to the press further. I feel like there's other stuff you're not telling me beyond Venezuela. And Bolton says, I'm sure there is. The US, John Bolton, admitting on CNN that he's involved in planning coups on behalf of the US government. We definitely know about the attempted coup in Venezuela against Maduro trying to put Guaido in power, but he's clearly saying that there are others. Does that trouble you at all, Taoiseach? Do you think it's okay for the US administration to be able to go around the world and organise coup d'etat wherever they think is appropriate? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. First of all, in relation to Deputy Richmond, I'd like to phrase protocol busting legislation, which you've coined. But again, we did have a detailed discussion with the delegation in respect of the issues around the protocol. They were both Republicans and Democrats, and some had expertise in the trade area. And they found it very difficult to comprehend what the issues were on the UK side. And their view was that the protocol issues could easily be resolved with proper negotiations and discussions. And they had made it very clear to those that met in the United Kingdom system that they expected this to be resolved by negotiation. And that anything that would undermine the Good Friday Agreement would cause very significant challenges ahead all round. And I would say no more than that. I think Deputy Hohi raised a number of points, which I would agree with in terms of the successor to Boris Johnson. First of all, I think we all want a sensible, managed relationship between the United Kingdom and Europe. The European Union wants that. Many people in the United Kingdom want that. A professional relationship that adheres to existing agreements. If agreements need to be changed, well then we do it together in terms of identifying the issues, renegotiating or re-amending. But that unilateralism would not form part of that approach. Likewise, in respect of the relationship between Ireland and the UK, I agree that we need to maintain our vigilant presence on Capitol Hill through our US ambassador and politically as well. Constant engagement with the US administration. And I would have met with President Biden recently again in Madrid to do exactly what you were saying. One of the reasons I went to Madrid was to engage with a range of political leaders. And of course, President Biden was there. And we took the opportunity to raise certain issues there also. And as you say, what we want really is an intelligent and sensible approach, as you have said, in respect of these relationships. And I would like that that would be the case in the event of a new British Prime Minister appoints a new government. Because I think in the post-Brexit situation, we need a new dynamic between the UK and Ireland. Because as members of the European Union, the United Kingdom ministers, officials, Irish officials and ministers met very often. That is no longer the case because the UK are out of the European Union. So we need a new structure to deal with the bilateral issues between Britain and Ireland. I thought it was interesting that Deputy Paul Murphy said that I get sensitive when there is criticism of the US imperialism. I do not get sensitive, but I am always struck by the singular focus that the Deputy has in respect of the US and no one else. And that whilst there is a terrible, immoral and illegal war raging on Ukraine, I am always struck by your reluctance to really go there in any exchange with me or anybody else. But that your overwhelming focus is always on the United States and sometimes on the European Union itself. That is a fact in terms of the balance of your presentation. You referenced John Bolton, who is a Republican hawk. I do not accept at all that it is appropriate. No country should be organising coups in any other country. But he was a Trump appointee, as you know, a Donald Trump appointee. And his views would not, in my view, be representative of mainstream opinion within the United States. And I think that has to be said. And what I would say is that I would like your insights in terms of Russian interference across the world. In terms of the transparency from Vladimir Putin as to how many coup d'etats he is organising, how many people he is leveraging pressure on, how many professional private organisations like the Wagner Group are being funded and organised and creating mayhem across the world. I mean, to me, right now internationally, let's call a spade a spade. President Biden is a voice for peace. He is a voice for reason in international relations. And we are fortunate that he is at the helm in the context of a terrible war on the continent of Europe. That could escalate into a horrific nuclear conflagration if we did not have someone as sensible as President Biden at the helm in the United States. That is a fact. No, you will never accept that. You can never bring yourself to acknowledge that. Because you can see no good at all in the United States. It is a big bad evil. I want to say this much as well. I have to say this. Prior to the war on Ukraine, President Biden, President Macron, Chancellor Shultz all went, spoke, to Vladimir Putin, saying, we will get into negotiations, we will get into discussions on security issues that you may have concerns about. But please do not start this war. And he went ahead and started the war. Okay, Taoiseach, I am sorry, we are out of time now. Deputy Barrett, maybe if I could, if I could take another five minutes, sort of, just to do, not five, just two, maybe. If you want to take five minutes for the next block of questions. I could do a minute or two will do fine. Deputy Barrett raised the issue. I agree that there should be access into Gaza. In fact, I secured access to Gaza not through the Israeli government at the time, but through the Egyptian government minister or Secretary of State, who allowed me a loan. I was the only European foreign minister at the time who was allowed into Gaza because the Egyptian foreign minister said, you can come into the Rafa crossing. Other senior foreign ministers were not allowed in for ridiculous restrictive reasons. We should not replicate one bad practice with another. In terms of what you are saying, because of the Israeli government's approach to Gazans trying to get into Ireland and vice versa, and vice versa into Europe, that therefore we should restrict Israeli. We should uphold the best standards in terms of allowing people to travel and to move into each other's countries. We should push very strongly for a more liberal approach to Gazans and particularly families being reunited and meeting and so forth. Deputy Brendan Smith raised a number of issues in terms of the optimisation of the Shared Island Fund. I think the £70 million we announced, including the Ulster Canal provision of £40 million, I think it is the kind of project that makes a huge difference. I know in Cavan Monaghan, Deputy, you are working very hard with local authorities in respect of cross-border projects that we can fund out of the Shared Island Fund and also in terms of the dialogues. But in terms of the special envoy to Northern Ireland, that is under review, and it is something that I think has merit and particularly in the context of the current difficulties that we are experiencing in relation to the protocol and its application. Thank you, Taoiseach. We will take those. We will take those. I'll catch you soon. Thank you. While the