A chemical attack on innocent Irish people

Eamonn Gilmore didn’t see the irony when he addressed the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee to condemn Syria for a chemical attack. He said the attack was a new low against civilians.

A week ago, Mr Gilmore’s government sanctioned an attack on Irish citizens at a peaceful protest in Dublin, using the insoluble, inflammatory chemical, desmethyldihydrocapsaicin or oleoresin capsicum, commonly known as pepper spray. Studies have shown these chemicals can be lethal for people who have asthma and respiratory problems, and that they can be mutagenic, carcinogenic and can cause cardiovascular and pulmonary toxicity.

This attack is symbolic and an example of the heavy-handed tactics of this government. To paraphrase Mr Gilmore, the use of chemical weapons is a new low in the litany of mindless, austerity-driven economic and social horrors perpetrated by this government on an innocent Irish population. Mr Gilmore called for Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court. Given that he, and the political class and their banking cronies, were complicit, again to use his own words, in ‘economic treason’ against the Irish people, maybe he should present himself to The Hague. Mr Gilmore will receive the appropriate censure from the court of public opinion.