Government accused of 'rigging' a forum on neutrality
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A war of words has erupted after Opposition TDs accused the Government of "rigging" a forum on neutrality.
There were heated exchanges in the Dáil, with Tánaiste Micheál Martin suggesting members of the Opposition would "put the jackboot on people who might have views different to them" if they were ever to enter Government.
He was responding to People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who criticised the Government's consultative forum, claiming it had been "rigged" with speakers "stacked up" in favour of one side of the argument.
The Government is to hold a series of consultative forums on international security policy, starting in Cork next week, with a host of speakers lined up across the four days.
However, Mr Murphy took issue with the list of invited speakers, which includes representatives from Chatham House, Nato, Concern, the UN, the Tyndall Institute, as well as a host of academics.
He said the speakers list "gives the game away to an extreme degree" as to what the Government wants to achieve from the forum.
"There is one anti-war speaker in the form of Roger Cole and multiple people who are on the record as being in favour of joining Nato, having links themselves to Nato, etc. Does this not just give the entire game away?" he asked.
Mr Martin accused Mr Murphy and others of engaging in a "sickening" form of politics.
Hitting out at Mr Murphy and his colleagues, he said: "You guys are no great advocates of freedom of speech at all and I shudder to think of the day they would ever be in authority, because, by God, would they put the jackboot on people who might have views different to them."
Dubbing the comments disgraceful, Mr Murphy demanded a withdrawal of the statement and challenged him to "go and say it outside the Dáil, like his disgraceful allegation that we are Putin's puppets".
"What is abhorrent is not our exposure of the reality that the Government has a hand-picked consultative forum, with a hand-picked chair, who is on record as being a supporter of US militarism. Us being critical of that is not abhorrent.
"These consultative forums are an absolute farce. They are part of a managed process designed to say that the great and good have come together and have decided that Ireland is now too mature to stick with these old notions of neutrality and we are going to ditch it."
Mr Martin said the forum, at which he is due to speak, will allow for "genuine debate", as it includes a wide range of speakers with different perspectives.