Gerard P. Craughwell
Labour Panel · Independent · Ireland
“I omitted to formally congratulate the Leader yesterday on his elevation. I assume there will be bonfires all over Tipperary as he arrives home this weekend. I ask him to please forgive me for not officially congratulating him. I will say a few words at the start at our Presidency of the European Union.”
“It sends a confused and troubling message about hierarchy, authority, respect and the place of the Defence Forces within our nation's life. This matters.”
“The decision to have the Secretary General of the Department of Defence, a civil servant, however reputable, take the salute from newly commissioned officers before handing them their commission represents a deeply inappropriate blurring of roles. Let us be clear.”
“I say to the 64th naval cadet class in their achievement that they remain significant, their commitment remains admirable and their future responsibilities remain vital.”
“It is simply unacceptable that not one Minister or Minister of State of the 38 available was present to officiate at the commissioning of new officers into the Naval Service. I remind colleagues that this is not a minor diary clash or an administrative oversight; it is a profound signal of disregard for the State's most loyal servants.”
“It is an honour for me to extend my congratulations to the 64th naval cadet class on their commissioning into the Naval Service. Their commissioning should be a moment of unambiguous pride for them, their families and the State they have chosen to serve.”
The complete record
Every one of 631 lines we hold for Gerard P. Craughwell, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 2 of 13.
“I remember the second French peacekeeper who has now died as a result of his injuries in south Lebanon. That brings me to the issue of the wars raging in the world at the moment. The more I read, the more I ask where the regulators are, those who examine what might be regarded as corrupt dealings. We constantly see circumstantial evidence that 15 or 20 minutes before the President of the United States makes a statement, there are massive transactions on the stock exchange. People are making money out of war. The Ukraine war is no longer a cash cow because there seems to be zero interest in it despite the fact that hundreds of people are being killed every day of the week. During his campaign, the current US President criticised previous Presidents for going to war in the Middle East because the US would never win a war there.”
“The long arm of the Department of public expenditure is reaching into every corner within the public service. Surely to God if the Department of Defence is agreeable under adjudication to give an award, it should be given and there should be no further discussion about it. It is time to get rid of the Department of public expenditure, amalgamate the two under one Minister and leave us one senior Minister who can take over the Department of Defence and can see to it that we have a proper defence Department. Coming from a garrison town, as the Leader does, I know the Leader will want to bring the Minister for Defence in here and have a discussion on this. It is outrageous. These men, the Army Ranger Wing, are the people you put on the front line every time there is a crisis, and I mean a dangerous crisis.”
“It is no surprise that today I want to talk about the Defence Forces. In particular, I want to talk about the adjudication of 27 September 2010. We ask representative bodies to go to adjudication to resolve issues that exist within an organisation. The Defence Forces is suffering recruitment and retention issues. That adjudication of 2010 awarded the Army Ranger Wing and those who cook, the chefs, in the Defence Forces an increase in pay backdated to 1 June 2006. Surely it is time for the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to be re-amalgamated into the Department of Finance. What is the point of having an adjudication if the Department of public expenditure is going to step in and say "No"? I know this is right across the House and across all political parties.”
“I lived in an office on my own rented for me by my college, outside the building where all the staff were, and a classroom was rented outside the school so I could teach my classes. People would look at a big guy like me and say I surely could not be bullied as a man of my size, but I was for seven years of my life. I do not carry it with me though. I now see it as a badge of honour because I stood up. I am telling people today there is no place for bullies in any workplace and companies need to stand up and confront bullies that exist within their organisation. Fair play to the young woman mentioned in the Irish Independent today.”
“I am glad to see a class of students here because they need to know that bullies have no place in our society. Bullies only thrive when people allow them to. A bully needs to be confronted, not just by the victim. Actually, we do not call them "victims", but "targets". Once you confront a bully, he or she will move his or her sights to another target. Essentially, bullies are weak people who lack confidence in themselves and only ever attack a person who actually is great, confident and excellent at what they do. The bully is actually jealous of who and what you are. Do not ever let a bully take over. There is an excellent story today titled, "I stood up to my workplace bully – everyone tells you not to, but fighting back was my therapy". I fought back personally for seven years.”
“I, too, want to be associated with the comments on Senator Flynn. It might be of interest to her to know that, shortly after I shut down my X account, somebody appeared on X as "G. Craughwell" and continues to tweet on that platform despite the fact that I have already complained that my name is being used. These companies have an obligation to ordinary citizens, never mind Members of the Oireachtas or anywhere else. I have complained and am still complaining. I complained when I was impersonated on Facebook, and within hours, Facebook acted to stop it. That did not happen on Twitter and it is not happening on X. I think X actually drives revenue by destroying people. It is a horrible organisation. I would have nothing to do with it. I want to talk very briefly about bullying in the workplace.”
“Locking down O'Connell Street or fuel depots so that nothing can move is an act of illegality. The people who were there thought they were behaving legally because nobody was giving them alternative information. They were taking their information from a hard right group. Let us be honest. These people did not care. We saw on social media stuff coming in from the United Kingdom. Let us publish what a reasonable protest is.”
“We should have met people on the ground and engaged with them. There is only a limited amount of tax revenue coming in to this country. We will not be able to buy our way out of this as the situation escalates, and escalate it will over the coming months unless, by some miracle, Donald Trump and the Iranians decide they never meant to go to war and let the ships move through Hormuz again. I ask that we invite the Minister for Finance to the House to debate the future problems associated with energy crisis. We also need to publish today what a protest is and what is acceptable in a protest. The right to protest is guaranteed under the Constitution but it is limited and subject to restrictions. A protest that impacts the general population is simply not a protest – it is an illegal act.”
“It is simply not good enough. We need the national security strategy urgently. That is the first thing we need. Second, we are about to head into a period of extreme industrial unrest. The teachers' conferences are just over and demands have been made for higher pay, better facilities in schools, etc. The Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, met at the weekend, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, will meet soon and the Garda representative body is meeting this week. We are heading into a time of industrial unrest. Let us not do what we did with respect to the protests on fuel, which we allowed to go on. When I say "we" I mean the Government and all of us in this House who sat on our hands while they were going on because the Houses were in recess. We should have recalled the Dáil and taken steps in the first days.”
“Yesterday, I spoke about the protests and blockades that occurred over the last couple of weeks. Both the Iranians and the United States are locking down the Strait of Hormuz. We may as well prepare today. Fuel prices will spiral in the coming weeks and months. We cannot allow a situation to develop again whereby local gardaí are pitted against their fellow citizens and local members of the Defence Forces are called out. That was erroneous in the first instance. What we really need to do now is to prepare. We have been asking for the national security strategy for years. It is always a couple of days away or it will come out the following week. It is a bit like Donald Trump's alternative to Obamacare in the United States, which we hear will come out next week or the week after or maybe they are working on the last paragraph.”
“I think it is the 12th such motion in as many months. It has become a nonsense. At the end of the day, the Government got it wrong. I would much prefer to see all parties come together and bring forward their ideas to resolve things rather than taking lumps out of one another for the sake of it. For God’s sake, let our uniformed services do their jobs. How dare anyone try to intimidate them. I support Justin Kelly 100%.”
“Frank Stagg was allowed to die in jail of starvation. Yet, not one of those protestors moved to do any damage to any of us who were in the riot squad that day. No garda suffered on that day. Two gardaí were on that grave approximately six months after Frank Stagg was buried and no one ever did anything to intimidate any of those gardaí. We now have a situation where anybody feels they can take up a mobile phone, spend their time walking around videoing gardaí and then have the audacity to say they are being badly treated. They blocked the main street of this city. They locked down the city. They denied people access to funerals, cancer care and the ability to look after their young. Maybe the Government did not get it right. There is currently a debate in the Dáil on a motion of no confidence.”
“Over the weekend, we had what is being called a protest. Last night, I watched the Garda Commissioner speak to the public and his members about the disgusting retaliation that is being rained down on members of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces who did nothing other than their job. At the end of the day, we all support the right to protest. The blockade of vital national resources, however, is not a protest. It is an act of thuggery. It is an act that sets out to damage the citizens of this country who have freedom of movement in this country. Let me make an analogy. I was the sergeant in charge of the front section of the riot platoon on the day Frank Stagg was buried 50 years ago. I was surrounded by 15,000 mourners on that day who were very angry over what happened, and rightly so.”
“I urge the Government to take courage in its hands and, under the provisions of Article 46.2 of the Constitution, bring forward the legislation, as my colleague Senator McDowell said, to amend Article 16.2.2°, setting out a new method for determining the number of Dáil Deputies that will serve the country for the next 50 years. I can understand how political parties might find this a little difficult to live with, but it is about making the Oireachtas a functioning organisation. As I pointed out, there are many good reasons for it. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply.”
“If we want a Parliament fit for the next 50 years, not just the next census, we must be willing to modernise the rules that govern it. The current formula has served us well historically, but it is no longer the right tool for Ireland today. By amending it, we can ensure the size of the Dáil is a deliberate choice, grounded in evidence and guided by needs of the public. This is not just good governance; it is responsible stewardship of our democratic institutions. I ask the Minister of State to take this to the Government.”
“Other advanced democracies have already addressed this issue. They set the size of their legislature based on functionality, not a fixed population ratio. They recognised that representation is not simply about numbers, but effectiveness. Amending our system would allow Ireland to do the same. It would give the Oireachtas or an independent commission the authority to determine the appropriate size of the Dáil based on evidence, comparative research and the needs of a modern State. It would allow us to design a Chamber that is sustainable, efficient and capable of meeting the demand placed on it. Crucially, reform does not mean reducing representation. It means protecting representation by ensuring that the Dáil remains a body that can function effectively, scrutinise Government rigorously and legislate with clarity of purpose.”
“There is no evidence, institutional need or strategic planning involved. Rather, it is simple arithmetic. If left unchanged, the formula will continue to increase the number of TDs every time the population rises, even if the additional seats do not improve representation, strengthen accountability or enhance legislative performance. This is not a question of ideology; it is a question of institutional design. A continually expanding Dáil carries operational consequences. More Members means more committees, administrative overhead, co-ordination challenges and pressure on parliamentary time. It risks slowing decision-making at a moment when the State must be more, rather than less, agile. It also risks weakening accountability by making the system more diffuse and harder for citizens to navigate.”
“He is welcome to the House. He might ask why the system of determining the number of Dáil Deputies must be amended. Ireland’s democratic institutions have always evolved when the needs of the State demanded them to do so. Today, we face one of those moments. The constitutional formula that determines the number of Dáil Deputies, that is, one TD for every 20,000 to 30,000 people, was designed for an Ireland that no longer exists. Yet, it continues to shape the size of our national Parliament in ways that are increasingly misaligned with the realities of modern governance. As policymakers, we know that systems and structures matter. When a system produces outcomes that are automatic rather than intentional, it is our responsibility to intervene. Currently, population growth alone dictates the expansion of the Dáil.”
“Members of this House will make it widely known that they are not a party to the Bill. I think that is bad legislation overall. Nothing excuses us not doing the work of Parliament and teasing out every aspect. The Minister was very good the last time we debated the Bill on judicial appointments. This Bill needs more time and I ask him to consider that.”
“I will not delay on this. This is the first time I have spoken on the Bill. I become deeply concerned when I see any Bill passing through the House with a guillotine associated with it. The point made by my colleague, Senator McDowell, is valid. When the Bill is finally passed, it will be seen as two things. First, it will be the Minister's Bill. Second, it will not have been passed by the will of the Members of the Oireachtas, many of whom will never have had an opportunity to engage in any way on the Bill. This is bad legislation. It is not the way to do business. I fully understand the Minister and I applaud him for the work he is doing in this area but, given that we have 200 amendments, it is wrong in every sense of the word to guillotine the Bill this evening.”
“We should have a debate on inheritance tax and specifically on why, when we have worked all our lives while paying tax do we have to pay tax when we die, or rather why do our children have to.”
“Wealthy families can structure their assets and minimise the impact but ordinary families cannot. The result is a system that claims to promote fairness but ends up reinforcing the very inequalities it was supposed to address. We need a tax system that reflects modern Ireland’s housing market, cost of living and values. This will mean raising thresholds to realistic levels, recognising the citizen’s home as a place of memory and stability rather than a taxable asset and it means ensuring people are not punished for wanting to provide for their children and that citizens who are not married and have no children are not prevented from providing people they loved and cared for all their lives.”
“In many cases, a son or daughter inheriting a house they grew up in can face a tax bill running to tens of thousands of euro not because they are wealthy or have done anything wrong but simply because their parents owned a modest home in a county where property prices have spiralled. This is not a taxed luxury; it has become a tax on ordinary life. What messages does it send? We tell people to work hard, save, invest in their homes and build a better future for their children yet when they do exactly that, the State steps in at the worst possible moment and takes a significant portion of what they have earned with money they already paid tax on. Inheritance tax creates inequality between those who can afford professional tax planning and those who cannot.”
“The current tax-free threshold for parent-to-child in group A is €400,000 but the threshold for siblings, nieces, nephews and grandchildren - who are in group B – is €40,000. All others, including close friends and unmarried partners, are in group C and the threshold there is €20,000. In many constituencies that are urban - and increasingly suburban – the average family home now exceeds the threshold for group A by quite a considerable amount. The result is ordinary families rather than high-net worth households are being drawn into a tax originally designed for a very different economic reason. Furthermore, the current system clearly discriminates against childless citizens.”
“Thank you very much, a Chathaoirligh. I thank Senator Conway and offer best wishes to our Greek colleagues, who I thank for being here. I want to use my time to address an issue that affects families across Ireland and quietly punishes them at the very moment they are dealing with loss, namely, inheritance tax. As a person who is in the departure lounge himself, my family may be looking at it in the very near future. I hope not, but they may be. The inheritance tax is meant to ensure fairness but in practice it does the opposite. It penalises ordinary families, undermines the idea of building something for the next generation and treats aspiration as something that must be taxed rather than encouraged. Let us start with the basics.”
“To report something like that without any concrete evidence or follow-up from An Garda Síochána is the most reckless form of reporting. I am deeply shocked that the WRC did not impose a ban on reporting that case. I do not know who the person is or if there is any such person but I know this much. While I may argue with people in this House from time to time, I regard every Member of this House as an honourable person doing the best he or she can for this country. I want to put on record my support for every Member of this House. I am appalled that the WRC went through with that and allowed it to be reported. It should have been stopped there and then.”
“There was a hearing in the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, yesterday. I will choose my words carefully. The hearing was reported. During the hearing, allegations were made against a Member of this House. The Member was not named. The person making the allegation was asked if the matter had been reported to An Garda Síochána and that person said that the matter had been reported to it. The person was then asked if An Garda Síochána had followed up with charges. There are no charges. The allegation was a wild allegation made during a WRC hearing. It called a Member of this House into disrepute without naming the person in question. There has been wild speculation on social media as to who the person may or may not be. I believe the media have as much of a role to play as politics and the Judiciary have in holding things to account.”
“Given Israel's incursions into Lebanon, I have had some questions this morning, particularly from my hometown and that of the Leader, about the safety of Irish troops in Lebanon. Israel has issued instructions to people to vacate their properties in parts of Lebanon.”
“It is not often that I compliment the Government. In light of the current crisis in the Middle East, however, I have to hand it to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence for organising to get an aircraft to Oman to bring people home. I appreciate that people will have to travel for many hours to get to that aircraft and that it will be difficult for those who are unwell to have to take a six- or eight-hour bus journey to Oman in order to get home. There are some green shoots with respect to flights. Some flights are getting out of Abu Dhabi and places like that, but they are very few and far between. I should be in Cyprus at a defence conference this week, but that country's airspace has been closed.”
“Smaoinigh mé go gcaithfeadh mé rud a dhéanamh to bring back an Ghaeilge. Thosaigh mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge ó shin i leith. Tá mé anseo inniu de bharr an ghrá mhóir atá agam don teanga. Caithfidh muid oibriú le chéile chun an teanga a neartú trasna na tíre. Sin an méid atá agam anocht. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. Tá a Ghaeilge féin go hálainn.”
“Níl ach trí nóiméad agam. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as sin. Nuair a bhí mé i mo shuí tráthnóna ag éisteacht leis na Seanadóirí, rith sé liom gur teanga mhaith álainn í an Ghaeilge. Tá mo chuid Gaeilge féin uafásach. Is pleidhce mór mé as a bheith anseo ag labhairt Gaeilge. Deir sé ar an suaitheantas atá á chaitheamh agam go bhfuil cúpla focal agam, agus is é sin an méid a bhfuil agam. Nuair a bhí mé níos óige agus ag freastal ar scoil i nGaillimh 60 bliain ó shín, bhí an fháinne agam agus bhí mé i mo Ghaeilgeoir iontach maith ar fad. Nuair a bhí mé mar chuid den Chéad Chathlán i nDún Uí Mhaoilíosa, bhí Gaeilge mhaith agam. Cúpla mí ó shín, agus mé ar mo bhealach abhaile, bhí mé ag smaoineamh ar an teanga. Rith sé liom go mb'fhéidir go bhfuil an teanga ag fáil bháis.”
“We have to look at cadet pay urgently and, for God's sake, let us not go down the rabbit hole of the God damn triple lock as we try to pass legislation in this country. Everybody should go away and read what neutrality means before they start conflating it with something. Would we go down the road and ask our next-door neighbour whether we can leave the kids out to play? It is absolute absurdity. Let us get rid of the triple lock, for God's sake.”
“Will the Government commit to engage with the representative bodies on conciliation and arbitration and address the appalling vista whereby we are being ruled against in Europe is being ignored here in Ireland. It is simply not good enough. My colleague Senator Gallagher referred to the cadets. The Government has increased the age for entry to the cadets to 39 years of age. Are we seriously expecting a 39-year-old to come in and join the Defence Forces for €26,000 a year? It is outrageous that we would consider that. It is €28,800 in their second year. A private soldier earns more than a cadet, who is a future officer of the Irish Defence Forces. We have to look at the post-2013 pension urgently.”
“I know these came long before the Minister of State was in office, but we have constantly brought to the notice of Government how the post-2013 pension is destroying the Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána, the Prison Service and the fire service. Who is going to take on the Department of public expenditure and tell it who runs this country? Is it that Sir Humphrey decides what will be done and what will not be done? I always believed and saw in my life that when the Minister said it was so, it was so. A recent ruling by the European Committee of Social Rights deals with the issue of service personnel working on bank holidays, etc. There is no overtime.”
“I have to hand a copy of the failures to implement the recommendations from the Commission on the Defence Forces. We have the appalling situation where the Tánaiste made a statement that he had sought €3.4 billion for defence and that the Department of public expenditure had given him €1.7 billion. Who runs this country? Is it some civil servant over in the Department of public expenditure? Who is responsible for these decisions? We are looking at 12 human resource and career development issues, six structural command reform issues, five infrastructure issues, two special operations capability issues, two flexible service and welfare issues, one medical services issues, two pay and allowances issues, seven capability development issues and six Reserve Defence Force issues. Forty-three of them are unimplemented.”
“I often wonder when looking at Government whether there is any actual, credible, granular Government understanding of the polar opposites positioning in international security co-operation for Defence Forces, training and pre-operational capability development with Ireland having friendly-state troops and equipment deployed in Ireland for training purposes rather than an operational purpose. It is clear to me that within this House there is no understanding of the difference between an Executive and an non-Executive posture. The former, an Executive posture, would be in conflict with Article 29 of the Constitution. We hear a lot of talk of the French and the UK providing services or support to our security during the Presidency of the EU. I ask that we at least adhere to the Constitution. It is, after all, the will of the people.”
“I want to put something on the record. There has been a lot of talk here about the triple lock. There are many things coming in that legislation apart from the triple lock and I hope we will not find ourselves bogged down discussing something that is not related to our neutrality or our military non-alignment. If we think that is going to happen, it should be taken out of the legislation and let us have the legislation for the triple lock at a different time. Today we launch the national maritime strategy. Have we put the cart before the horse? There is no national security strategy. A sequential process should be the maritime strategy. Why are we launching a component of the national security strategy when we should have launched the strategy first?”
“The Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse in Northern Ireland has contacted me and provided a brochure asking people who lived in institutions in Northern Ireland and may have suffered abuse to contact her office. Many times in this House we have discussed abuse in the Republic of Ireland. The same happened in the North of Ireland and various other parts of the world. Details of the brochure will be available on my various social media, except for X. I am not on X because it is a toxic place and everybody should get the hell off it. Leaving that aside, I have the brochures in my office. If anybody wants one for their local area back home, they might drop me an email and I will send one along. It is really important that the commissioner is proactive in trying to find people and provide the supports they need.”
“Tomorrow night in Belfast, there will be an event recognising those who work in the blue light sector for excellence and those who are in the voluntary sector as well. One of the great things about that event was one of the top people awarded was a man from County Wexford with search and rescue dogs. The level of training that goes into his dogs is incredible. They have worked internationally in very serious situations. It is something of which we should be very proud. There is a hope that the same event will move to the Republic of Ireland later this year or early next year. It is only right and proper that we should recognise those from the blue light sector and the voluntary sector who put their lives on the line in saving lives.”
“They talk about Kyiv now being a war city, with no lights other than from generators and no heat. Let us show a little humanitarian goodwill.”
“I hate to say this because some Sinn Féin people are very good friends of mine but Sinn Féin blocking that in a vote in the European Parliament is totally unacceptable. We cannot put murder and genocide in a hierarchy, with Gaza up here and Ukraine down there. Murder and genocide are the same, irrespective of where it happens. Ukraine deserves the money it needs to survive. The fact that Hungary has thrown its hat into the ring leaves Ukraine in a dire situation. I ask those who have been against providing moneys to Ukraine to survive to reappraise their position and perhaps show a more humanitarian approach to what those people are suffering. Suffering in war is something nobody should have to put up with. On the rebuilding of Ukraine, we have had two distinguished professors in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery today.”
“I too recognise the Estonian ambassador visiting here on Estonia day. She has been extremely supportive to me over her term in Ireland, facilitating a number of delegations to Estonia in order that we could put together a vision paper for cybersecurity, which we will launch in the next couple of weeks. It has been four years since the incursion into mainland Ukraine started and 12 years and four days since the incursion into Crimea. We have to remember the Crimea incident was the start. Europe turned a blind eye to it and we are where we are today. There can be no peaceful solution in Ukraine without Ukraine and the Europeans. That is something we have to get across. I want to turn to the loan of €90 billion.”
“I thank the Minister for a very comprehensive response. I am extremely proud of Ireland and the Irish people for what we have done for Ukraine but the basis of all humanitarian aid has to start with the preservation of human life. Human lives can be saved. We see the statistics are quite stark, with between 10% and 25% mortality catered for. The essence is to get the project up and running again. I implore the Minister to ring-fence €558,000 out of the money allocated to Ukraine for this project because it is delivering real results on the ground. The preservation of life is what it is all about. Now it is no longer just soldiers; through Putin's war crimes it is innocent civilians who are being killed in Kyiv, Donetsk and other parts of Ukraine. If the Minister can do this I would truly appreciate it.”
“It is practical, compassionate and rooted in our national tradition of medical excellence and humanitarian solidarity. The Minister's support is invaluable to them. I ask her to ring-fence the €558,000 from all humanitarian aid that she intends to provide to Ukraine so this project can go ahead. I look forward to keeping her updated on the progress and many hopes for the successful delivery of the key elements in 2026. One thing I should say is that it is not just soldiers now. Civilians are being murdered miles away from the front line. Civilians are suffering trauma.”
“Lyudmyla Zakharchenko, Professor Chris Fitzpatrick and Professor Gerard Bury accepted awards on behalf of more than 50 volunteers at that meeting. In his public remarks, President Zelenskyy asked them to continue and, if possible, to increase their efforts. They intend to honour that request. Their programme is evidenced-based and continually evolving. They are now developing new methodologies for delivering TXA that it is believed will significantly broaden its availability and impact across Ukraine. The roll-out of this innovation will form a central part of their 2026 mission. Ireland has always stood with those who suffer the consequences of war, displacement and injustice. The UCD Ukraine trauma project is a uniquely Irish contribution.”
“Demand for places on their courses far exceeds capacity to deliver them. These wonderful people plan two missions in 2026, delivering six two-day courses to an additional 300 providers. That will mean 300 additional medics fighting to save the lives of brave Ukrainian forces. The projected cost of this work is €558,000 and they have submitted a detailed proposal to the Department of foreign affairs. They assure me that they remain deeply grateful to the Minister's Department, the Irish public, the HSE and the Red Cross, whose generosity, channelled through the UCD foundation, has made every mission to date possible. In December 2025, volunteers were honoured beyond measure when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the First Lady, Olena Zelenska, recognised the project during their visit to Dublin. Dr.”
“These front-line clinicians finish a shift in an Irish emergency department or an ambulance service and then give their own time at personal risk to support Ukrainian colleagues working under bombardment. To date across nine training missions, the UCD Ukraine trauma project has trained more than 650 pre-hospital emergency responders, doctors, dentists, nurses, vets, academic instructors and paramedics from every front-line agency in Ukraine. Alongside this training, they have delivered over 1,700 advanced trauma kits, each containing tools needed to stop catastrophic bleeding and administer TXA in the field. The work does not replace Ukrainian expertise; it reinforces and enhances it. The feedback received is clear and humbling. The skills they teach are being used frequently and the equipment provided is saving lives.”
“This is the leading cause of preventable death in this conflict. The techniques and equipment required for advanced haemorrhage control require access to the very early administration of tranexamic acid, TXA. Sadly, TXA remains very limited or unavailable in many parts of Ukraine. Where it is administered quickly, it can reduce mortality by 10% to 25%. This is not a statistic. It is a human being alive because the right intervention happened at the right moment. In response to this need, volunteer advance paramedics and doctors from the Irish health service, led by Professor Chris Fitzpatrick and Professor Gerard Bury, both sitting in the Gallery today, have travelled to the Ukraine since November 2022, sharing their expertise through intensive two-day training courses.”
“The Minister is welcome to the House. I think this is the first time I have addressed her since she was returned at the last election. I congratulate her on taking the foreign affairs, trade and defence portfolios. Today marks the fourth anniversary of Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine and it is over 12 years since Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula. I am here to speak of the work of the UCD Ukraine trauma project, an Irish initiative that is saving lives every day in Ukraine, often within minutes of injury and sometimes within seconds. The key point is time is of the essence when it comes to injuries. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale illegal invasion of Ukraine, one of the greatest challenges facing Ukrainian medics has been the management of severe bleeding and major trauma.”
“Do the MEPs think it is negative noise when we are about to be embarrassed internationally by virtue of the fact that we cannot provide our own defence for such a prestigious role as the Presidency of the EU? After all, the MEPs must live with their European Parliament colleagues in Europe, who I have no doubt are talking about this.”