Duncan Smith
Dublin Fingal East · Labour Party · Ireland
“That is three separate roads that are all in one network and are all closed or heavily restricted because of these works happening at the same time. This is impacting thousands of existing residents, and will do so for a significant period. The works are happening and the homes are being built.”
“We have a very small wastewater treatment plant that has been there for 40 or 50 years and which serviced a much smaller town. It is currently being retrofitted and upgraded, but those works are being delayed.”
“I thank Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, for taking this debate late on a Thursday evening, on the last sitting day of this term. I would like to talk about the town of Swords in north County Dublin.”
“We do not have enough schools and we have a wastewater treatment plant that is absolutely buckling under the pressure. We welcome the houses. There were no mass protests about housing development in Swords. The majority of people who live there moved there, like myself, in the past 20 years and love living there.”
“I know you cannot make an omelette without cracking a few eggs, but there is a disconnect in the planning of these projects that is causing havoc in Swords. We have a massive issue with our bus network, from bus stops to bus services, and again, we do not have a rail link yet.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her response, which speaks to the issue I am raising. Again, she will sense the tone in which I am raising it. There is an awful lot happening and being built, but it is the co-ordination of these works that is the problem.”
The complete record
Every one of 707 lines we hold for Duncan Smith, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 14 of 15.
“I do not want to go too far ahead but there are concerns about what might be done to the UN as the US withdraws support for it. I refer to what the US has already done in the pausing of USAID, which is among the most callous acts of the past couple of months and is already having an impact in terms of deaths, illness, and weakening protections against famine, flood and drought. All of this is happening right now. The headlines are rightly focused on the diminishing security of Ukraine with the continued war after Russia's invasion, and indeed what has happened in Gaza over the past 48 hours, which has been described by the Israeli Prime Minister as the beginning or the start. The start of what? We have had 17 months of genocide, utter destruction and barbarism.”
“One critique that has not occurred, because no one expected it, was the challenge to Western liberal democracies from the standard-bearer of Western liberal democracy, namely the United States. This is something we have seen accelerated in the past two months, the prelude to which was the Trump administration between 2016 and 2020 and his election campaign last year. It is happening before our very eyes. The central premise of that book is that western liberal democracies are less likely to enter into conflict or wars with each other. We have seen an escalation in conflict between traditional allies, albeit through trade in the first instance, such as the United States and Canada and the United States and the EU. We have heard threats relating to the annexation of Greenland and the Panama Canal.”
“I welcome these statements. I made a request for them at the Business Committee two weeks ago and they were very quickly put on the agenda, which highlights the regard in which we hold this issue in the House. The 1989 academic paper "The End of History?" by Francis Fukuyama, and the subsequent book, The End of History and the Last Man , 1992, make the central argument that Western liberal democracies have won out and their universalisation has brought a natural end to centuries-long evolution in how humans govern their countries and indeed how that operates throughout the world. The theory has been subject to much critique and analysis over the years, not least for its failure to consider the threats of Islamism, religious fundamentalism or tribalism.”
“It could be looked at. The Labour Party will make provision for increased capitation in our alternative budget this year.”
“These schemes will be damaged if we do not get the basics right or do not fund schools. Students end up being taught in cold rooms or rooms that must be dimly lit or not lit at all. It is not about striking the crisis bell. It is about acknowledging, in a rational and calm manner, the seriousness of this issue. We have great school principals. We have young principals with many more years left to give who are probably spending too much time having to sort out and meet financial deficits and needs that should be borne by the State so that they can focus on the provision of learning, special education and everything we want to see our teachers and educators working on, as opposed to basic administration which should be resolved. We will come back to this again. I ask the Minister of State to take the issue of solar panels away immediately.”
“The school contacted me this afternoon to acknowledge that contact had been made with the Department. It is working through it. I discussed whether the school wanted me to continue to raise this issue tonight and it indicated I should because this is a wider issue that will continue. The Minister of State stated that schools have the flexibility to use their capitation grants. Schools are bending over backwards multiple times to be as flexible as possible to stretch the money they are getting to ensure the light and heat stay on and the school remains clean. The free books scheme is brilliant, as is the school meals programme, of which I am a great fan because it has been a wonderful innovation and has accelerated in the past couple of years. St. Cronan's is availing of that scheme.”
“When the school applied to get more solar panels through the previous Government's solar panel scheme for schools, it was told it was not allowed because it already received a few solar panels through a different funding stream. Something that could be done very quickly would be to relax the rules to ensure that schools that got solar panels through another scheme can avail of the solar panel scheme to increase their energy efficiency. That could be done instantly. I am interested in hearing the Minister of State's response. Sacred Heart Junior National School in Killinarden and many other schools are not coming forward to state that they are facing the same financial challenges as those faced by St. Cronan's.”
“The Minister of State responded earlier that there will be an increase in the capitation grant rate in September 2025. I do not think this will be enough for this or other schools to meet the heating and electricity costs that face them. This needs to be looked at within a budgetary cycle and I ask the Minister of State to take that back to the Department. What is happening with the likes of St. Cronan's and other schools is unsustainable. I wish to highlight how creative and forward-thinking schools like St. Cronan's are. It put some solar panels on its roof a couple of years ago. It was done through the emergency works scheme. It got approximately 15 or 16 solar panels, which is equivalent to the average semi-detached home. It is not a lot. It meant the school got about €200 back last July in credits so it is very marginal.”
“That is actually a competitive rate in the marketplace so the complaint is not about the rate as such, but that the school is tied into it, as are other schools. This highlights the leap in cost to the school due to electricity prices. It has to pay this out of the capitation grant, for which it gets approximately €100,000 per year. That may sound like a lot of money but when it has 500 students and has to pay insurance, cleaning, heat, light and other expenses, it quickly gets eaten up. Schools are struggling to break even and 70% are running in deficit, as we know. Therefore, the responsibility is then placed on parents through voluntary contributions and school fundraisers, which are becoming increasingly difficult as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.”
“I know it is very easy for a TD to say that about any school in a constituency but it is true of St. Cronan’s Junior National School. The work it does specifically in the area of special education would take your breath away. Unfortunately, what has taken away the breath of the school in the last couple of weeks is the latest electricity bill, which came in at nearly €22,000 when split between the junior and senior national schools. This compares with a bill last year of about €8,000, so it has gone up by approximately €14,000. The school is tied to a rate that is agreed through procurement with the Department. The previous rate per kilowatt was 5 cent and 7 cent and this year it is 14 cent and 15.82 cent.”
“On a positive note, this is my first Topical Issue of this Dáil term. In the last term, too many Topical Issues would have been taken by one Minister of State. What we have tonight is a selection of Ministers and Ministers of State who are directly related to the topic. I hope that continues as much as possible through this Dáil term. It is something we brought up at the Dáil reform committee in one of its rare outbreaks of constructive discussion so far. I would like to raise the matter of the financial constraints impacting many schools, which was also raised on the first Topical Issue matter this evening. I would like to raise it with specific reference to St. Cronan’s Junior National School in Swords. St. Cronan’s Junior National School is an amazing school.”
“We have good local authority housing officers who will, when they have some housing stock and some timelines, buy a two-bedroom house in which a family that may need a three-bedroom house is living just to keep them in it so they can later transfer to a three-bedroom house. They will then move someone else into the two-bedroom house. This is what housing officers can do if they are given the resources to do it. This Government, like the previous one which was the same Government, is removing, one by one, the levers and possibilities that would keep people in their homes. It is callous and it should be reversed.”
“This one imperfect scheme, which managed to keep a few people in their homes and managed to extend people's time before entering homelessness and give local authorities more time, is now being removed. It is a callous decision by the Government. I commend Sinn Féin on bringing this motion forward. The vast majority of people do not know what the tenant in situ scheme is. It is a niche scheme which people will not know about until they are actually faced with the worst possible vista, namely, a descent into homelessness. It is very welcome that the motion has been brought forward tonight. It deserves every airing and every bit of attention it gets. Again, is a really callous move by the Government. It should do what the motion says by ensuring local authorities have certainty and funding and are able to apply maximum discretion.”
“Even at its most basic, the tenant in situ scheme allowed more time for the local authority's housing allocation or homelessness department to find suitable accommodation because even when an application failed, it took a few months to process it. It was not always the case but sometimes the engagement by the landlord and local authority with the scheme would give the tenant an extra couple of months. Now, that is gone. The ever decreasing number of levers available to Deputies, Citizens Information and tenants themselves to stay out of homelessness are being removed one by one by this Government. The Government is failing to meet its housing targets and to deliver the number of houses needed, whether they have one, two, three, four or more bedrooms or are disability friendly. It is missing every single target.”
“Unfortunately, if the Government continues with what the Department recommends, it will ensure that many more people enter homelessness. The last visitor to my clinic at the weekend was a single divorced woman in her early 60s who recently availed of the invalidity pension as she just had to give up work. Her tenant in situ application was rejected by the council due to a lack of funding. The woman, who has a disability, will end up in homeless accommodation when she had a landlord who was willing to sell to the council. The landlord had a good relationship with the tenant and wanted her to stay in the home but was unable to pursue that option because of the Government's disgraceful decision to stop the funding in December. It is an absolute disgrace that it has now presented this filleted, zombie scheme.”
“I will continue from where my colleague, Deputy Sheehan, left off. What the Government intends to do if it implements all the recommendations from the Department of housing is turn a scheme, albeit an imperfect one, that was keeping people out of homelessness into a zombie scheme. It will be a scheme that exists in name but that is not practical and does not help people stay out of homelessness. The plans afoot for the tenant in situ scheme are disgraceful. The scheme, as it has existed for the last number of years, is a function of a dysfunctional market. It would not exist if we had a housing system that functioned but we do not. Unfortunately, we needed a tenant in situ scheme to keep families, single people and couples without children out of homelessness.”
“While an awful lot of attention has been focused on the deteriorating security situation in Europe, less focus has been placed on the appalling action of the Trump Administration in the freezing of the USAID programme, which accounts for 40% of all global development aid. Vulnerable, sick and poor people all over the world are struggling to access programmes, including HIV care, tuberculosis care, and famine prevention programmes. Medication is locked in warehouses. While Europe is discussing more bombs and bullets, Trump has dropped a financial bomb on the global aid programme and it has a chilling impact on NGOs, which are afraid to speak out because they fear if they speak out, the freezing will become a permanent cut. What can Ireland, with our allies, do to help ameliorate this some of this immoral, appalling action by Trump?”
“We need changes to the rules around school transport and patron body choice with Gaelcholáistí. The need is greater than that of other patron bodies and that must be factored into school transport for the upcoming year.”
“The facilities that the students and staff have had to endure in that school over so many years have been beyond what are tolerable for a school in a First World economy like ours. This must not continue. The school needs a new building urgently. Where there are Gaelscoileanna and a sufficient population density, the Minister should ensure there are Gaelcholáistí for students to transition to so they can continue to learn through their national language and will not lose or dilute, in their education between the ages of 12 and 18, what they have learned between the ages of five and 12. Please reform the school transport system to ensure those students and families who have had the privilege of primary education through Irish can continue that in secondary school.”
“We fought hard, along with other Teachtaí in the last Dáil, to have school transport from Swords to Coláiste Ghlór na Mara in Balbriggan. There is going to be increased demand on that service in the upcoming school year. I appeal to the Minister now, in March, to ensure there is sufficient capacity in this system because we know we will not have a new Gaelcholáiste in southern Fingal, in Swords, in time for September. In fact, we are many years away from that. On Gaelcholáiste Reachrann, the points have been well made by several Deputies, including in this debate. I visited the school myself. There are many schools across many patron bodies that need refurbishment and new buildings but, certainly from my experience, it is very hard to think of one that needs a new building more than Gaelcholáiste Reachrann.”
“The thing about town planning is that we know when housing is going to be built, when the population is going to increase and that, with the provision of Gaelscoileanna, there will be demand for Gaelcholáistí. Unfortunately, there are now pupils who feel that, when entering first year after sixth class, they have to change patron body to stay local. They are unable to avail of what is a broken school transport system in order to get their secondary schooling through Irish. The peer pressure to stay local becomes even greater. Therefore, we need to be planning our schooling better. On the school transport system, it is absolutely ridiculous that so many children need to make the choice to go to Gaelcholáiste Reachrann or to Coláiste Ghlór na Mara, Balbriggan.”
“A Cheann Comhairle agus a Theachta Ó Snodaigh, tá brón orm mar níl go leor Gaeilge agam chun óráid iomlán a dhéanamh. I would like to talk about education planning in the provision of schooling through Irish. In my town, Swords, we are lucky enough to have a fantastic Gaelscoil, Gaelscoil Bhrian Bóroimhe. In Donabate there is Gaelscoil na Mara, and in Kinsealy there is Scoil an Duinnínigh. The problem is that for students who have been lucky enough to get into these schools, the choice at second level becomes a lot more difficult. This is because there is no Gaelcholáiste in Swords, the largest town in Fingal and the third largest town in Ireland. The students have to travel either to Coláiste Ghlór na Mara, in Balbriggan, or to Gaelcholáiste Reachrann, in Donaghmede. This is ridiculous given the size of the town of Swords.”
“On that issue, the Labour Party and other groups in the Opposition have submitted a private notice question under Standing Order 44 to ask the Taoiseach to explain the actions of the Government Chief Whip at the Dáil reform meeting last Wednesday, actions which were incredible for those who were there. I have just found out in the past two minutes that this request has been rejected. I am upset by that, and I think others will be. I would like an explanation as to why it was rejected. There is also the matter of our request for the international security situation to be discussed in the Dáil. We made a request as a party for it. It is not on the Order of Business. We need an urgent discussion on that as well.”
“Therefore, there is a heap of problems associated with pushing tenant in situ scheme applications through to a conclusion and keeping people in their properties. It seems there is resistance at council level. Also part of it is a lack of resources at council level. The same people who are dealing with homelessness, HAP applications and allocations also have to go through tenant in situ processes. They have not been resourced properly. Now we have the main problem, the Government problem, which is that the councils are not being funded to go through with the applications that are in process. It is an absolute catastrophe and something I ask the Minister to resolve with much urgency.”
“In both cases, the tenants have been in them for more than a decade. Those concerned were through the process and then got letters to say there was no funding for the scheme anymore, meaning the properties could no longer be purchased. The tenants are now in emergency accommodation. This is absolutely unacceptable. I am not 100% comfortable with the tenant in situ scheme. It has its issues. It was put in place as an emergency measure to keep people out of homelessness and it is utterly failing. Before the money was pulled, we had the issue of councils saying, without giving detail, that particular properties did not meet the required standards, but they did not indicate what standards the properties failed to meet.”
“I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his election to his position. We were seven-plus months seeking a debate in this House on this matter, which is incredible. I hope the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, in his role, can assist all Members who request speaking time so they do not have to wait seven months for a debate on something so important as the Housing Commission report. I would like to use my time to focus on the tenant in situ scheme. There are a couple of elements to it. The first is the most pressing: there is no money for the scheme at the moment. People in my constituency with whom I am dealing have gone into homelessness in the past week because of the tenant in situ scheme application process. Landlords we were engaging with wanted to sell properties to the council and keep tenants in their properties.”
“I return to the issue of reduced capacity on Irish Rail's northern commuter line. My colleague Councillor Corina Johnston and I have been inundated with reports from people who have been left on the platform at peak time. My colleague received a response from Irish Rail today apologising for what has happened but stating it will happen again tomorrow and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week. Given that the population of Donabate is due to grow by 25% in the next two years, it does not have a direct, regular bus service into Dublin and it does not have a high-capacity DART service to alleviate demand, can a special case be made for increased transport infrastructure in terms of bus and rail to account for the homes being delivered there? The infrastructure must be delivered along with those homes.”
“If the latest video from Donald Trump's own social media platform on Gaza is anything to go by, it is a grotesque, dystopian vision of an international order. I welcome the news that Ireland will contribute more in financial aid to Ukraine. We must be more active in helping to find a peaceful settlement to this war that removes Russia from Ukrainian land. Importantly however, we must also be stronger and louder with our own values. We cannot allow ourselves to shirk our own responsibilities or values on the world stage. We must play a role in ensuring that we see a free and liberated Ukraine.”
“It will be through the strengthening of alliances that we can begin to separate ourselves from our reliance on an increasingly rogue United States, which has shown that, on any given day, it would leave us, as it could leave Ukraine, high and dry. If, as it seems, the United States moves away from what has been a complex foreign policy - but one that has always at least claimed to be rooted in standing by its allies and promoting democracy - to a more transactional foreign policy in which it will deal with any nation on any issue to ruthlessly promote the Trump Administration's own vision of American interests, then we as an Irish nation must stand firm. We are firmly in a new age of international relations, a darker age.”
“These rapidly shifting tides must also act as a reminder for Europe that we must not let the might or financial resources of any country determine or shape our shared values. To that end, it is clear Ireland must discover a new nimbleness in our own foreign policy and honestly reassess who our true allies are and who we can rely on. For many years we have punched above our weight diplomatically and we have been a voice for peace across the world. That must continue. We must redouble those efforts. We must also take the chance now to engage with European allies to forge stronger alliances with one another with an eye to further afield and strengthen alliances with other like-minded nations such as Canada.”
“It is the responsibility of the European Union to push back on any deal that cedes lands to the aggressor in this war. Let us make no mistake, Russian aggression will continue if it is allowed to continue to control any lands that it has illegally taken. If a peace settlement is foisted upon the Ukrainian people, Russia may stop for a few weeks or months, or even a couple of years, but it will not be deterred indefinitely. If we want a just peace - one that will endure, any settlement reached must be based on a sovereign Ukraine. The coming weeks will be vital in determining the international landscape we will face in the years ahead. Ireland must be prepared to push back on global superpowers dividing up a sovereign European country. We have already seen how that story ends.”
“Ukraine, perhaps in exchange for security guarantees - although that remains unclear, will have to sell its natural resources to the United States in a deal that seems more like war reparations than it does an economic trade agreement between peer nations. We can read between the lines on what we know about this deal. This is the United States pillaging and plundering Ukraine for its rare earth minerals and natural resources. We even heard this morning that members of the Ukrainian Parliament do not know even the basic details of what deal is being proposed. This is an international heavyweight bullying smaller nations. There is no justice in that. It is Russia that should be forced to resource the rebuilding of Ukraine along, in the first instance, pre-2022 borders.”
“The reality is that, due to the last three years, our principles will be tested in the years to come. The ground on which we now stand is shakier than it has ever been, and global alliances are not what they once were. The European Union can no longer trust the American Administration to be the friend and ally it has been since the Second World War. Ireland cannot accept a world order where the strong man pillages and plunders. Donald Trump and his cabal are acting in an utterly disgraceful manner. The direction of travel on the invasion of Ukraine seems clear: It seems Russia will be rewarded for its illegal war of aggression through keeping the lands it currently controls.”
“Even with the support of the US and other western powers, the odds were still stacked against Ukraine in the face of the Russian onslaught. However, Ukrainians have fought hard to defend their sovereign territory, although losing many men, women and children in doing so. It is important in these times that are so fraught with uncertainty that we as a nation remember our values. Ireland is a militarily neutral country, but we are not nor never have been politically neutral in the face of illegal wars or war crimes - quite the opposite. Our position must always be informed by the principles that have driven our foreign policy since the foundation of the State. They are principles that we as a nation cherish deeply - support for international human rights and humanitarian law, just peace settlements and a rules-based international order.”
“As of 31 January, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that conflict-related violence had led to 12,605 civilian deaths and the injury of 29,178 civilians. The military death toll remains very high. The continued abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war at the hands of the Russians, including torture and sexual violence, remains unabated. It is a humanitarian catastrophe caused and made by Russia. When Russia made its illegal advances three years ago, it expected to roll over Ukraine in a matter of weeks. Instead, what it met was the indomitable spirit of the Ukrainian people. The Russians tried to lay waste to cities, targeted civilians, and destroyed infrastructure, in an attempt to try to break the will of the Ukrainian people.”
“I acknowledge and thank Ambassador Gerasko and I welcome members of the Ukrainian community to the Gallery today. For three years we have seen horrors in continental Europe that we hoped we would never see again. In 1918, we hoped we would never see trench warfare again. In 1945, we hoped we would never see tanks roll across the sovereign borders of another European nation. We hoped that we would never see the ethnic cleansing happen again that we saw in the Balkans in the 1990s. Unfortunately, all three and more are happening in Ukraine after the brutal, illegal and unprovoked attack and invasion by Russia three years ago. It was a black and white violation of the UN Charter and international law.”
“Notwithstanding the arrangements we have for Dáil reform this week and then next week, given the deteriorating security in Europe, the Arts Council issues and the overspend on the children's hospital, I think we need to expedite the setting up of the Oireachtas committees. I do not think there is any reason we should delay any further, because there are a number of issues that we need to tease out. I sincerely ask if we can work together to get that done as soon as possible.”
“We have the money to do it and we need the political will to do it. It is unacceptable for the Government to continue its previous policy of saying that people can get a new job when they are 55. It is something that we in the Opposition will not stand for. The Government needs to move quickly on this.”
“We all know what mortgage rates are now. If people are lucky to have one for 30 or 35 years, they have to pay them at a higher rate and they have to pay extra on top of that in order to have some kind of certainty. This might be a dense issue for people outside to understand but it is a very real issue. Anyone in these Chambers who said this did not come up on the doorsteps was not listening to firefighters, prison officers, members of the Defence Forces and the guards, because that is what is happening. There is going to be an avalanche of parliamentary questions and debates coming the Minister of State’s way. This was not a pre-election campaign to get a bit of energy before the election for the unions and the workers, this is a real injustice. However, it is an injustice that is solvable.”
“It was a watery enough promise but at least it was something. In a programme for Government that is riven with reviews and commissions, that this is not even in it is an affront to these front-line workers. We are going to have a debate about Storm Éowyn this evening, and we had one last week. Where were these workers? They were not safe at home like I was – like we all were - they were out working in it, because they had to, as they are front-line workers. These workers are being hit on the double. They are not just being hit after the age of 55 when they are forced to retire, they are being hit now because they have to pay extra into AVCs to supplement their pension. I refer to young workers in their 20s, 30s and 40s. They are also paying extra on their mortgages to ensure that they can have their mortgage paid by 55.”
“People go through tough recruitment processes and then they find out that their pensions are not worth the same as those of their colleagues and that they are going to have to get a new job. What would someone in their 20s or 30s do if they were told they would have to get a new job at 55? They would say they might as well get it now. Why would they wait until they are 55? What condition would they be in to get a new job? That is why people are leaving. This can be and should have been resolved. Promises were made to these workers by parties of government - by Fianna Fáil – that this would be in the programme for Government. What they promised was not even the solution, which is a supplementary pension; what they were promised was that a commission would be set up with stakeholders and they would investigate it and look into it.”
“All those who have come in to these Departments since 2013 are on the new pension scheme whereby they get their occupational pension at 55, although they do not have their State pension until 66. What we and this campaign, which is being run by a number of trade union groups such as SIPTU, the Prison Officers’ Association, and the Defence Forces representative bodies, seek is that a supplementary pension would apply when they retire at 55. This is one of the last of the FEMPI measures to be unwound. It needs to be brought in. It is morally and ethically right. We have a recruitment and retention crisis in these services because the pension entitlements are so poor for these workers. A lot of the jobs are ones that these workers have wanted since they were kids. These are historically desirable jobs.”
“They are workers such as firefighters, guards, those in the Defence Forces and prison officers - our uniformed services who have to retire at 55 years of age and are being told by this Government and the previous one, that when they retire at 55 they will have to wait 11 years for their State pension to kick in, and in that time, they can get another job. These workers receive a fast accrual pension. This is not a free pension; this is a pension that they have to pay extra for in the years they work. They get nothing for free. They pay into it. They have to retire early because of the very understandable difficulties with their job in terms of their health and fitness. These are jobs that are very difficult to do beyond the age of 55 due to the ensuing health impacts. These workers have been left behind.”
“I am glad it is the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, in the seat for this debate. I know it is the luck of the draw but the matter I raise - pensions - relates to her Department, the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. I would like her to take account of the contributions from me and my colleagues, Deputies Wall and Kenny, over the next 15 minutes. We are having statements on the programme for Government. What I will be speaking to is what is not in the programme for Government, but what was promised to be in it. I refer to reform of the single public service pension scheme, in particular for fast accrual pensioners. Who are they?”
“They are an active military inspired by vengeance. They are a nuclear power. They make the Middle East more insecure, not more secure. We in this country have power. We have a historical record of punching above our weight to use that oft-quoted phrase. We can do it by passing this Bill and building on the work we have done. This is an important moment for this new Government. If it follows what this motion and previous motions and what the Opposition and Senator Black have been saying for seven years, we could bring Irish foreign policy into a new better and braver space.”
“Ursula von der Leyen visited Israel in October 2023, after the events of 7 October, and stated, "I know how Israel responds will show how it is a democracy." No democracy should respond to an act of terrorism and violence in the way Israel has done since that day up to the ceasefire. If a country is to be a democracy and fly the flag of democracy, it needs to lead by example. That does not mean allowing itself to become insecure, nor does it mean disproportionate venom, vengeance and, indeed, genocide. Israel remains outside more international agreements than any other state. It is, by any measure, a rogue state. This is something Ireland has called out for many years, and it must continue to do so. However, we are now at a point where we need to take one step further and call the Israelis out. They are a huge military.”
“There can be no greater signal of solidarity with the Palestinian people, whose country is the size of Ireland, than delivering on the occupied territories Bill. Ireland is a small country and I do not think what it has done thus far to recognise a Palestinian state is unimportant. That was an important move and I am not denying it, but this is the moment and this is the Bill. This is what the Irish people want. They know the Bill about and they want their Government to support it and deliver on it. We in the Labour Party believe our Government should work within the EU also. We have worked with some partner states but know the likes of Germany, the Netherlands and many other countries are standing firm.”
“It greatly concerns me that there have been indications that the Government is willing to do just that. Reports have indicated the occupied territories Bill will be, line for line, reworded and watered down so as not to damage Ireland’s corporate and diplomatic relations with the US. This is something we cannot tolerate. This is our Dunnes Stores workers moment. It is something on which we must, as a country, step forward in unison, led by the Government and by what the previous Government said leading up to the last general election. I shared a media engagement with Senator Frances Black just before the election and, at that engagement, the outgoing Government said it would support the Bill, not that it would be reword it line by line. It is not following through on that.”
“Well, it is not the leader of Irish foreign policy and Ireland’s position on Palestine and the Palestinian people. Donald Trump is a fundamental danger to the very existence of Palestine and its people. We now know, moving forward, what the US policy will be: to forcibly displace 2 million Palestinian people from Gaza so the US can, de facto, own it and redevelop it. It is shocking that we could be contemplating another Nakba. The truth is that this world has become more fractured and more unstable in recent years. Our country’s reliance on foreign direct investment from the US must not lead our foreign policy in its entirety. This is the test that the Irish Government now has. We cannot allow global tech bros to dictate our values when it comes to Palestine.”
“We should always welcome an end to violence and we have a duty to help facilitate a lasting peace in the region, but when we see press conferences like the one we saw in the US yesterday, it feels the ceasefire is on shaky ground. This violence is generational. The stories the world has seen since 7 October, of families devastated from indiscriminate bombings and assassinations, are absolutely heartbreaking. The failure of the international community to stand up and act is a damning indictment of us all. For the United States, the self-identifying, supposed beacon of freedom and justice, its continued indifference to the plight of the Palestinian people is utmost failure. It is a moral stain on a country that identifies itself as the leader of the western world.”