Dublin city councillors back motion condeming US/Israel attack on Iran

“Is gá dom é seiceáil lenár gcomhairleoirí dlí,” Dublin City Council’s chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, told those gathered for the monthly council meeting on Monday, which was conducted in both Irish and English.

That translates to, “I need to check it with our legal advisors.”

When asked, “Cén fath?” by Lord Mayor Ray McAdam, Shakespeare returned to English to say, “I just want to check the ground I’m on.”

Shakespeare was replying to an emergency motion from Sinn Féin Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair.

The motion called on the council to condemn the “joint Israel-US attacks against Iran”.

And called on “all state parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire and recommit to a diplomatic resolution”.

Further, the motion requests that no representatives of Dublin City Council, including the Lord Mayor, should attend any St. Patrick’s Day events planned in the White House under President Trump.

And for the Lord Mayor to write to the US Ambassador to express the council’s protest.

Shakespeare did not elaborate at the meeting on what his legal concerns around this motion were. 

His response was branded “Gearr agus milis” by Ó Meachair’s party colleague, Mícheál Mac Donncha, through a bemused chuckle.

That’s, “Short and sweet”, as bearla/in English.

Asked later for details about Shakespeare’s legal concerns, and whether he might be worried the council could anger the US and Israel, a council spokesperson said, “We have no comment at this time.” 

Kid gloves for US and Israel

In the Council Chamber on Monday, as the meeting continued, Ó Meachair argued that international law is not “a-la-carte”, applying to some, but not others.

If one link of a chain is damaged, the entire chain itself is broken, he said – adding that this is no time to flatter US President Donald Trump.

Why is Russian President Vladimir Putin expected to follow the rules, but not Trump? Where are the sanctions for the US? asked Ó Meachair.

The response from the chief executive, and the idea of seeking legal advice on the motion, was branded as “unprecedented” by Independents 4 Change Councillor Pat Dunne.

Although, when a plan by councillors to strip former Israeli President Chaim Herzog’s surname from a Rathgar Park at the December monthly meeting drew criticism from the US and Israel, Shakespeare also had legal concerns.

This followed a call, Shakespeare said, before that meeting, from the secretary general of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, asking him whether he was sure what was being proposed was legally sound.

At the December meeting, on Shakespeare’s advice, councillors withdrew the motion to de-name Herzog Park, and sent it back to committee.  

At Monday’s meeting, Dunne said motions have been passed by the council in relation to international affairs “time and time again”.

As Labour Party Councillor Fiona Connelly noted, she brought a motion in February’s full council monthly meeting relating to Iran.

“This Council notes with deep concern the ongoing crisis in Iran, where widespread protests have been met with violent repression by state authorities, including the use of lethal force against demonstrators and a near-total internet shutdown,” the motion read.

Connelly’s motion called on the Lord Mayor to write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris TD requesting that he engage with his counterpart in Iran to call for an immediate cessation of violence against civilians and end the internet shutdown.

In this instance, the Lord Mayor agreed to take the motion without debate and write to the Minister.

Dunne said he doesn’t support the present regime in Iran. It has since tortured, imprisoned, and executed political prisoners, he said.

But it's up to the people of Iran, and to the United Nations to deal with war crimes and crimes against humanity, Dunne said. 

“Not for a President of the United States to decide at the flick of a switch that he's going to war,” he said.

Regardless of your view on Iran, said independent Councillor Cieran Perry, the attack by the Americans and Israelis is a clear breach of international law. “Yet our own Minister for Foreign Affairs couldn't bring herself to condemn the illegal actions.”

Perry condemned the Iranian regime as oppressive, but added the Iranian people have to decide their own future. “Not the American imperialists or their Israeli masters.”

Break down

There’s a sound logic to Ireland maintaining its neutrality, said Fine Gael Councillor David Coffey.

“However, that logic breaks down a little bit for me when we refuse to go and talk to people,” he said.

Coffey said he wouldn’t support the motion because he thinks Ireland should use the St Patrick’s Day opportunity to raise its concerns with Trump, behind closed doors.

Although the motion calls for Dublin City Council representatives not to go to the White House, it is not them – but the Taoiseach – who attends that annual event on St Patrick’s Day.

Shakespeare, the council’s chief executive, confirmed at the meeting on Monday that neither Dublin City Council or the Lord Mayor have received invitations from the Trump administration to visit the United States this month. 

Still, by knocking America, the council would be knocking a country that invests financially in Ireland, said independent Councillor Gavin Pepper.

Responding to Dunne’s point that it is up to the people of Iran to decide their own fate, Pepper said that the persecuted Iranians cannot stand up for themselves.

“Yes, we want peace, but at the end of the day, when people are being persecuted, do you just keep going to meetings and talking in Brussels and over in the UN?” Pepper asked.

Then, said Pepper, those trying to escape that persecution “come here illegally”. 

Although, actually, it is legal to come to Ireland and apply for asylum.

The motion was agreed. 

The Triple Lock

Earlier on in Monday’s monthly council meeting, independent Councillor Cieran Perry had brought a motion calling on the council to “expresses its dismay at and opposition to the government’s intention to abolish the Triple Lock, which governs the deployment of Irish Defence Forces personnel overseas”.

The Triple Lock ensures that Ireland’s participation in overseas missions – with more than 12 defence personnel – would always require approval from the government, and Dáil Éireann, and that the mission they are being deployed on would have a UN mandate either from the Security Council or the General Assembly.

The motion seeks to defend the Triple Lock, an integral part of Irish neutrality, said Perry. “While also highlighting the disingenuous attempt by the government, the arms industry, lobbyists and the majority of the mainstream media to abandon our neutrality.”

Mac Donncha, the Sinn Féin councillor, spoke in support of the motion. As did independent Councillor Kevin Breen. 

Irish men and women fought an invasive colonial power to establish a sovereign state “different from the forces that once occupied it”, he said.

He pointed to a statement from now-Taoiseach Micheál Martin, in 2013, where he claimed the Triple Lock as the core of Irish neutrality.

So, what has changed? asked Breen. “Is it pressure from Brussels for a common European army? Is the pressure from the military industrial complex? NATO? Influence from America? What is it?”

Breen agreed with Perry that the government should put the issue to the people by referendum.

The Deputy Lord Mayor, Fianna Fáil’s John Stephens, supported Perry’s motion.

Stephens said he would like to see greater spending on Ireland’s own defence – its coastlines, its skies.

Security doesn't have to mean militarisation, said Councillor Janet Horner of the Green Party.

“Cyber security, intelligence sharing, diplomatic engagement are essential non-military forms of security, and none of them require us to remove the triple lock,” she said.

A destabilised climate, Horner said, is the greatest threat to all of our collective security in the world today.

She also called for better working conditions and an end to gender-based violence within Ireland’s armed forces.

“Anyone who equates investing in the basic needs of our defence forces with the bid to remove the Triple Lock is being deeply disingenuous,” she said.

Commenting on the motion, Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare said that it was not a job for the city council.

Likewise, Fianna Fáil Councillor Rory Hogan said that discussing the Triple Lock at a council meeting was pointless.

“When institutions act outside their remit, even with good intentions, it risks diluting the seriousness of both the issue at hand and the credibility of the body itself,” he said. 

In a roll-call vote, the motion passed.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.