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Richard Boyd Barrett tells Martin he has a responsibility to stand up against dehumanisation of a section of the population
Taoiseach Micheál Martin ’s past life as a history teacher was on show in the Dáil during Leaders’ Questions on Wednesday. He entered múinteoir-mode, delivering a lesson on the differences between the current crisis in the North and the war in Gaza.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd-Barrett raised the issue of the stand-off over the Orange Order’s planned parade on the mostly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown. Boyd Barrett began his contribution, characterising Martin’s position as being that he would not intervene, claiming the Taoiseach had dismissed suggestions he should call on the British government and the PSNI to “stop a triumphalist sectarian Orange march”.
He called on Martin to reconsider “that non-interventionist position” and to ask himself “what kind of mentality or ideology would lead Orangemen to want to march through a mostly Catholic area where they are not wanted, and where that march is going to evoke the trauma and memories of more than 21 people being killed”. Boyd Barrett argued it was a “mentality of supremacism and the dehumanisation”.
And he put it to Martin it is “a similar supremacist, dehumanising ideology” that leads to “death and destruction” carried out by Israel in Gaza. He put it to Martin that he is the “leader of a country that has suffered colonialism and oppression”, adding: “You have a responsibility to stand up against supremacism, to stand up against the dehumanisation of a section of the population, and call for that march to be stopped because it is a sectarian supremacist march.
” Boyd Barrett added Martin might also intervene to say “stop the match” between the Republic of Ireland and Israel this weekend “because we shouldn’t be playing against a regime guilty of genocide”. Martin said Boyd Barrett’s claim he had a “non-interventionist approach” is “wrong” and “false”. He also rejected the comparison between Gaza and Northern Ireland .
“The killing of 75,000 people in Gaza, the continued stymying of aid going into Gaza – how can you compare that with what’s happening in Northern Ireland today? ” Martin asked.
“Just ridiculous to make that comparison,” he said, adding: “Northern Ireland has come a long way since the Good Friday Agreement”, which includes “parity of esteem” and “respect for different traditions”. Many parades are held without any issues “through local agreements and through mediation”.
He set out his position, saying: “It can’t be just one single intervention is going to resolve this”, that the Irish Government does not agree with the position of the Parades Commission, but Dublin’s focus is on finding a resolution and “talks are ongoing in that respect”. Boyd Barrett agreed “the scale of horror visited on the Palestinians is certainly of a different order and I don’t have time to go into the history.
But to say there’s no connection, you need to look back at the history. ” He said the leaders of the notorious Irish War of Independence-era British forces – the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries – “were sent to Palestine after subjugating people in Ireland” with “the same horrific consequences”. Boyd Barrett also told Martin: “You need to stand up against supremacism and an ideology that is about trying to drag the North back to violent conflict.
And you should speak up against the genocidal horror of the Israeli regime as well. ” Martin said: “The Black and Tan model didn’t work in Ireland. And coming from the county of Cork I know that too well from my history. ” But he argued that delving into the past on all sides – including Boyd-Barrett’s contribution – “won’t achieve anything into the future”.
Martin said: “If we want a United Ireland into the future, we’ve got to begin to articulate what that looks like and how we include people. ” And with that, the lesson was over.
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