Lelia Doolan meeting and Shannon
Deputy Bacik praised Lelia Doolan’s walk and sought a meeting with the Taoiseach about Shannon Airport and neutrality. The Taoiseach agreed to see what he could do, then defended Shannon as not being a US military base and warned against mischaracterising it.
I commend the amazing Lelia Doolan, the long-time neutrality activist and human rights campaigner. She is outside the gates of Leinster House right now having completed a mammoth 220 km walk from Shannon Airport. Lelia is 91 years of age and has been walking in a gentle, peaceful protest for a fortnight. She is protesting the use of Shannon Airport by the US military. She has asked for a meeting with the Taoiseach and Government TDs. I think she is right. I want to express the support of the Labour Party for her. As we all know, and as we have seen in recent weeks, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have unleashed a rain of death and destruction across the Middle East. They have launched an illegal war. The Government has so far failed to condemn that war. The commander-in-chief of the very military forces that transit through Shannon Airport threatened just last week to wipe out an entire civilisation in Iran. That was genocidal rhetoric. Will the Taoiseach meet Lelia Doolan today as she comes to Leinster House? Will he stop allowing US military use of Shannon Airport in the face of the war-mongering we have seen? Will he guarantee that the US military and, indeed, Israeli forces are not benefiting from the use of Shannon Airport?
Comment on this
I have the greatest of respect for her, given her views, commitment and perseverance. It was an extraordinary journey to make in the context of her views on Shannon Airport. However, we need to be clear that Shannon Airport is not a US military base. Spain and Italy have US military bases, but Ireland does not. We need to be very careful that we do not mischaracterise Shannon Airport. That would damage the airport. I have concerns in that regard. Throughout the war in Gaza, there have been attempts to mischaracterise Shannon Airport as some sort of military base. It had no role, good, bad or indifferent, in respect of Gaza, nor does it have a role in respect of the war between the US, Israel and Iran.