The Workers Party have called on the Irish government to show leadership and maturity and oppose any military strike on Syria by the United States and its allies.  The party has also called for the denial of facilities at Shannon Airport and Irish airspace for such a mission.

Workers Party President Michael Finnegan has called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore to show that Ireland is not only militarily neutral but politically neutral and can think independently for itself in the area of foreign policy and oppose what would be an illegal attack on the sovereign territory of Syria.

“It is clear”, said Mr. Finnegan, “that the United States, Britain and other countries are lining up to launch a massive military attack on Syria regardless of the findings of the UN inspectors on the ground in relation to the alleged use of chemical weapons”.

The Workers’ Party President said that it was obvious from the Tánaiste’s statement today that he had already made up his mind and accepted the US line without waiting for the UN inspector’s report.  “It is a little over a decade ago since the whole world was lied to in a most hypocritical manner by the United States and Britain about so-called weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  Similar pretexts were used by the same countries leading to deadly attacks and invasions against Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Libya".

“An attack on Syria can only serve to further destabilise the situation in the Middle East. The use by any party of chemical weapons is to be condemned however there is a crass hypocrisy on such issues by the United States and its allies who hold the worlds largest stockpiles of all types of deadly weapons and who continue to foment a deadly war against the Syrian population by funding and arming fundamentalist groups.  International Law must be respected in its entirety and must be applied to all”, said Michael Finnegan.

Issued 28th August 2013