![Independent TD Mick Wallace: “It’s a good weekend for them [arms dealers] because it looks like there’s going to be even more arms used.” Photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/S766FTPRTKIAKTKZSARDV7JPRI.jpg?auth=63fabe89f977d07a07e2d92f191c46a73b6ad0d43b6f34b2bd6ae3897f255464&smart=true&width=1024&height=576)
The West is arming both sides in the Syrian conflict and in Iraq and has created Islamic State, Independent TD Mick Wallace has claimed. Mr Wallace also said that the weekend had been good for the arms industry, whose shares had risen an average of 4 per cent over the last three days. “It’s a good weekend for them because it looks like there’s going to be even more arms used.”
During the Dáil debate yesterday on the attacks, Mr Wallace said there was no justification for them and extended his sympathy to the bereaved and the injured. However he said the five biggest exporters of arms in the last five years were the US, Russia, China, Germany and France.
He told the House that French president François Hollande had said “we’re going to lead a war which will be pitiless”.
France though was selling weapons to Saudi Arabia which was giving them to Islamic State as was the United Arab Emirates, he said. They would give them to anyone who would fight Syria’s president Bashar al Assad.
Mr Wallace was criticised when he tweeted shortly after news of the attacks emerged: “So terrible for the victims, but when is France going to stop its role in the militarisation of the planet?”
“Western countries are arming both sides. We have created Isis but we’re not going to defeat it militarily. Only Iraq and Syria will eventually defeat Isis.”
He said IS wanted France to react in a strong military fashion. “They don’t want us to take a peaceful position and to stop militarisation of the area. We are feeding them with the whole militarisation of the region.”
Mr Wallace criticised the Government for last year giving permits to allow 190 tonnes of bullets to travel through Shannon.
Independent TD John Halligan warned that military action alone would not defeat terrorism. "Countries where greed, avarice, poverty and repression abound are breeding grounds for young people who join military groups," he said. "History has shown what happens if we do not educate, do not deal with abject poverty and suffering and do not give people hope."
