Palestine solidarity protests at Waterford constituency offices
IPSC South East committee members in Tramore, outside Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh's office.
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign South East branch (IPSC) protested at the constituency offices of several Waterford politicians for purportedly "turning a blind eye" to Irish complicity in the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
On Friday, July 5, IPSC activists protested at the offices of Minister of State Mary Butler, TD (Fianna Fáil) in Waterford city, TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Green Party) in Tramore, and at the office of Senator John Cummins (Fine Gael).
They left a letter outlining their concerns: “We at the IPSC, many of whom are your constituents in the Waterford area, are requesting that you use your voice to call for an arms embargo and that there are immediate inspections on all military aircraft entering Shannon Airport.
"While we are glad that Palestine has been recognised by the government, we urge you to take the aforementioned practical steps to saving lives in Gaza.
"Thousands of massive bombs have been delivered to Israel by the United States air force whilst the ICC has found war crimes are taking place."
It ended: "We hope you will use your voices to help Ireland adopt an arms embargo and make sure anything that can be used to commit war crimes does not enter or leave Irish airspace.”
A representative from the IPSC South East branch stated that the protest comes after a Bill, aimed to stop the import of Israeli military weapons from entering the Irish airspace, was presented at the Seanad.
They stated that the bill "would have also got rid of the regime of exemptions that allow US warplanes to travel through Irish airports and airspace without being checked for military or dual-use items".
"Unfortunately, and shamefully, Senators from the government parties, including Fine Gael Senator John Cummins, decided that this important Bill was not important enough, and voted to delay any discussion on it for six months – thereby ensuring that Irish airspace may be used for the transfer of weapons and armaments to Apartheid Israel for at least another six months of genocide in Gaza.
They continued: "It seems as if the government believes a symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state is enough to assuage Irish public opinion on this matter. We protested at Waterford Government Senator and TD's offices to tell them – it is not. With an election taking place in the next few months, we would ask our supporters to bear this action in mind while voting down the line and keep the pressure on Government politicians to act now.”
