Independent Ireland leader brands TD Paul Murphy's attempted Gaza trip a publicity stunt

Irish Independent

6 hours ago

Last week, Mr Murphy and members of an activist group had their passports taken and were held after attempting to walk to Rafah as part of a protest march highlighting the blockage of aid into Gaza.
He was then detained for a second time in Cairo on Monday when he went to a police station to retrieve his mobile phone, which was being held by authorities.
The Cork TD questioned what was the objective of the trip and said he would have advised Mr Murphy against travelling if he was a member of Independent Ireland.
Mr Collins said it is 'Dáil time' and TDs are supposed to be working. He also questioned why Mr Murphy put himself in danger.
'As party leader, if one of my TDs came to me and said they wanted to go travelling. First of all, I'd say, it's Dáil time and it's work time, you're supposed to tend to your duties,' said Mr Collins at Leinster House.
'If it's a holiday during August or something, that's their own business. But certainly, why put yourself in danger? Why put other people in danger, because you are in a position of responsibility and you have to advise people of the dangers you're putting people in. I felt there was a danger and there was a danger for others.
'I think it was more done on the basis of publicity than maybe delivery. And delivery is for the people that is inside here, where democracy is held, where people are held to order, where we can speak our minds and he's well able to speak his mind [in the Dáil].
"It's his decision but it's a decision I'd question myself if it was within my party.'
Cork TD Richard O'Donoghue said he hopes Mr Murphy is well and safe.
'You can protest, you can do all the same things of what he wanted to achieve, here. But to go over there and to put your life and other lives at risk, says to me you didn't think about the people you were leaving here behind you,' said Mr O'Donoghue.
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Meanwhile, Labour TD Duncan Smith said he would not criticise anybody who is trying to highlight the genocide in Gaza.
'I'm not going to be criticising any politician or citizen of this country or others who are doing what they believe they can to highlight what's going on in Gaza.'
Mr Murphy has confirmed no Irish citizens are now under detention in Egypt.
'No other Irish citizens are still detained, thankfully. Again, there are many Irish citizens who are not leaving today, will still be there for a period of time and I'm kind of conscious about their safety and not putting them in in any jeopardy,' Mr Murphy told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
Mr Murphy said his second detention was a 'slow bureaucratic process' and things were taking a long time to resolve.
'But then, I asked to leave and was told that I couldn't leave and the whole time they had my passport. It became clear that I was being detained, as unfortunately hundreds of others have been detained in Egypt, many people deported.'
He said his experience in Egypt 'pales into insignificance compared to what's happening in Gaza'.
'Just yesterday, 38 Palestinians were killed while queuing for aid. There's now over 300 Palestinians have been killed in those circumstances in the last three weeks,' he said.
'And the purpose of our global march to Gaza, which involved over 4,000 people coming here to Egypt from over 60 countries, was really to highlight the forced starvation that is happening and to call for a lifting of the blockade and allowing aid to flow.'
Mr Murphy said he was held for around nine hours when he was detained for a second time and due to the slow nature of the process, it was unclear at first whether he was detained or not.
It then became clear to him that he had been detained again because when he asked to leave the police station, he was told he was not allowed to.
'From our perspective, I mean we came here, the 4,000 people to try to march to Rafah in order to highlight what is happening in Gaza.
'Obviously, we're disappointed that we didn't get to Rafah, but we have had probably the largest international people-powered coalition for Palestine in a very, very long time.
'I think we did raise awareness about what is happening. And so, in the context of the severe Egyptian repression that is taking place, I'm conscious that look, there's still people in detention. There's still many, many people who won't be flying home.'
While there will not be another attempt to enter Rafah, Mr Murphy said activists will now turn their attention to events like a planned meeting between European foreign ministers and the Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar in Brussels next week.
'For us, the main pressure we need to have is on Israel, to stop what it's doing in Gaza and on our own Government to stop their complicity.
'Obviously, many western governments and many of the people over there are coming from countries where the governments are actively arming and funding Israel.'