John Lahart
Dublin South-West · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I remember sitting in the back seat of my parents' car as we crossed the Border for the first time, a British soldier talking to my father, seeing his gun and having an awful gut feeling about the idea that a British soldier would be stopping my father's car. I was from Dublin.”
“In the current debate, when we talk about security, defence and how Ireland is going to approach this, I always say Ireland is having a conversation about this for the first time. Nobody needs to pressurise us about this; we will make our decisions about it ourselves in a mature way.”
“However, it would also give a real indication of the challenges that lie ahead of us in order to make that feeling of home for everybody who lives on the island a real possibility. That means there is a huge amount of work to be done.”
“There are real tax implications if they live in the Republic and work in the North, or if they live in the North and work in the Republic. We have not actually established some kind of common area or system that enables people to do that and it is actually hindering economic development and progress. IBEC has said that.”
“It lends itself to a very natural system of federal government where there is a capital in each province determining - not ruling, but representing everybody in those provinces - and maybe a central government made up of representatives of those four provinces.”
“I welcome the opportunity to contribute briefly on this debate. I was listening to some of it. I echo some of the comments made by Deputy Gogarty about the provocative nature of some of the matters that he raised and the wide range of issues we would need to consider. We do not talk about the North in this House enough.”
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“In the programme for Government, we made a commitment to reduce the cost of childcare for a child to €200 per month under the national childcare scheme. Along with hard-pressed families, I strongly welcomed this. A problem arises when providers pull out of the core funding scheme. In some cases, a provider of multiple facilities pulls one of its facilities out but keep others in for various reasons. As I have seen in my constituency, when that happens the cost of childcare can rise to up to €1,300 per month per child. It has risen to €1,256 in the case of one set of parents I am thinking of, who applied to 20 other providers seeking a place for their child. There are two issues here. First, what happens when providers pull out of the core funding scheme? When it works, it works really well and is very welcome.”
“The Minister is not in office for a long time and she has delivered on commitments made by the past two Governments and the work done by her predecessor. I very much welcome the work involved and look forward to availing of and promoting it among my constituents so that they can avail of these enhanced services and facilities that will be available in their pharmacies.”
“I also welcome that pharmacies will integrate with the National ePrescribing Project. Anything that joins the dots and maximises the use of data is very welcome, as is the national electronic health record. It makes a huge amount of sense. From people I dealt with in the last Dáil term, I know that if we are admitted, we want to get to the point where people have a card - cards are probably out of date - or some kind of contact with a phone that lets first responders know what kind of medications they are on, who their GPs are and, if applicable, who their consultants are and what operations they have had, as well as any medical devices they are carrying. The national electronic health record forms part of that, as well as enhancing the broader digital health record. Rather than going on at length, I welcome the agreement.”
“I have mentioned the expansion of the clinical role, which is a really positive move. Community pharmacists will be able to contribute more actively to contraception services, immunisation programmes and that bowl screening initiative I spoke about. They will also help with the safe return and disposal of unused medicine. I agree with the previous speaker in that regard. All of us over the years have been given ointments, antiseptic creams or whatever from time to time for various things. They may sometimes have had an antibiotic element. Even the smallest tubes could satisfy the needs of a ten-person family for a decade with the volumes of creams contained in these. They sit in presses for years and years and there is nowhere to bring them back to safely dispose of them.”
“One of the criticisms of this agreement that the same pharmacist to whom I spoke made was about the proposed fee obliteration. They see this as possibly leading to increased hospital admissions and hospitalisation. That is just some feedback from someone who is otherwise very positive on the agreement. We might get some justification and rationale as to why they think that. To look at some of the features of the agreement, I commend the pharmacy union and all the pharmacists involved in it. I highlight the strategic collaboration that is contained in the agreement. The €75 million investment by the Government across this year and next year is significant in order to support pharmacists with those fee adjustments, develop the services they are going to offer and train pharmacists and upskill their teams.”
“I had to travel to Leonard’s Corner Pharmacy in the Chair’s constituency once or twice. There used to be late-night pharmacies, however. Will the Minister speak to the IPU about that? It has to be looked at because not everyone works a nine-to-five job and not every prescription is dispensed between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. This agreement represents a landmark development in our healthcare landscape. It is to be commended. The real thing that pharmacies have - and I notice it abroad - is that they are everywhere. In every little village and town where other services have been lost, the pharmacies still remain. While that is clearly in part because they prescribe medicine, they offer some other services as well. Pharmacists themselves would be interested in this.”
“I commend the Minister on following through on this in a way that is going to have an impact. Clearly, this agreement has been welcomed by the Irish Pharmacy Union. It has been in and around the Houses. I was a member of the health committee. Over the years, it may have felt like a poor relation in the health sector. This enhances its role and visibility. I live in Dublin 16 and represent Dublin 16, 24 and 6W. While there was a time when there were late-night pharmacies out as far as Terenure, it is difficult enough now. Sometimes, people have to drive into the city. There are very few late-night pharmacies. I do not know whether this aspect is built into the agreement, but it would be nice to see. When people go to their GPs to get a prescription, it is often in the evening. The latest pharmacy locally for me opens until 8 p.m.”
“This pharmacist said that it actually empowers pharmacists and maximises the use of their qualifications, which is all in line with the Government, the Minister and Sláintecare’s vision for pharmacy. It makes every contact count. With regard to some of the new initiatives like the stool screening, this pharmacist would have described that as a sub-optimal health incentive and it is great that this will see improved uptake through pharmacies. That is positive reaction from the ground. There were pharmacists in this House from both my party and the Minister for Health’s party who made points in the past two Dáil terms about not using and maximising, as the pharmacists put it, the qualifications of pharmacists, which would take the strain off some of the other parts of the GP system.”
“A kind of generic over-the-counter response is given instead because they cannot use those qualifications, even though they have a fair idea of what it is. I asked a local community pharmacist in my constituency for their thoughts on the agreement. They said the new changes around service provision are excellent and that the expansion of the role of pharmacists is brilliant. It allows for increased timely access to care for easily resolved health complaints, like thrush and cold sores. It will result in a reduced burden on GP appointments, which is really important in the city, given the number of people, particularly in expanding areas in my constituency, who cannot access or become part of a GP’s patient list.”
“The relationship people had with their pharmacies was often akin to the relationships they had with the local postmaster or postmistress. Indeed, in my home parish of Ballyroan, where I am originally from, Mr. Michael Shannon, who has passed away, was the local pharmacist. His son, Criofan, continues that pharmacy in Ballyroan and Templeogue. The pharmacist who turns up at family funerals is the kind of connection a lot of pharmacies have with the people who come to their shops. On several occasions when I have called into a pharmacy with a small ailment – thankfully not too often - I know the pharmacist knows what the answer is, but he or she does not have the legal right to either prescribe or dispense.”
“First, if I may, I want to mention two constituents of mine, Thomas McHugh and Louise Heaney, at least one of whom has been taken by Israel Defense Forces, following the actions of the IDF against the flotilla. Our minds are very much with them. Their families and a lot of constituents have been in touch with my office this afternoon. I wanted to put their names on the record and say that we will do whatever we can to support them and their families through this. This is not the appropriate debate, however. I raised it. It was also raised with the European Union Commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, who was before the trade and foreign affairs committee this morning. Moving on to the pharmacy agreement, I welcome it. Previous speakers spoke about pharmacies. Certainly, I grew up with pharmacies in my parish and area.”
“I appreciate that. I would like an explanation as to why I was told last year it would be done in 2025 with the exact same reason in relation to the seasonality of the work. It is imperative. The local authority took a decision recently in relation to the land that it controlled, which is in the curtilage of the castle. That was positive news about the development of the outbuildings and the creation of local infrastructure in terms of social and cultural facilities. The renewal of the facade of the castle - that cosmetic piece - is vital.”
“I thank the Minister of State. He was not in position when I got the last reply, which was this time last year. It repeated exactly what he has said, namely, a weather window would be required to carry out the works and the works would be carried out in 2025, which is this year. The reason I have asked the question is that the weather window has well and truly been with us for the past four or five months. Now, the Minister of State is saying the works will be carried out in 2027. What has changed?”
“I will not take the full time. This question is just in relation to Rathfarnham Castle and to ask the Minister for an update on it. It is a cosmetic-related question on the upgrading of the exterior of the building and the progress on this work.”
“I seriously encourage the Tánaiste to look at the possibility, over the lifetime of the Government, of having some politicians act as envoys on behalf of the Government in particular areas and with a particular focus on the US.”
“I echo the Tánaiste's comments regarding our diplomats. The week of St. Patrick's Day is a particularly important week for Ireland. Is it time to look at mobilising more politicians, outside of just Ministers and Ministers of State, to engage at state House level in the United States, open up a new conversation with American legislators and mobilise our considerable diaspora? There was a time when we had very significant figures on Capitol Hill but that has diminished a little bit. The Cathaoirleach of the Seanad has done a lot of work on creating new connections and networks in the US. Other countries have trade envoys and political envoys who convey particular messages. There are some messages diplomacy cannot deliver but which face-to-face political connections can.”
“In that engagement with people who hold particular views, it is important that we express to the Americans that it is not the Irish Government that has been accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and weaponising of hunger. Those views must be made known as strongly as possible to our American counterparts.”
“I welcome and echo the Tánaiste's remarks. The small Jewish community in my constituency of Dublin South-West feels particularly vulnerable at times of protest. Outside our relationship with the UK and the European Union, we have a unique relationship with the United States. This issue provides an opportunity, not to review it but to move forward with a different kind of dynamic. Some people on the left are the first to protest when members of the Houses of Congress who may hold strong views with which we disagree visit this House. These visits are opportunities to engage and to outline the rationale behind Ireland's stance on particular issues, as opposed to having a blanket protest against their presence in the House.”
“I thank the Minister of State. Our political grouping at EU level, Renew Europe, has some positive ideas. It proposed reinforced provisions to promote democratic resilience, including something that is close to the heart of this Government, which is funding support for independent media, investigative journalism and fact checking. I understand the Estonians are way ahead of the rest of Europe in dealing with disinformation. We need to pile some significant money into that. Much of this overlaps with the portfolio of our European Commissioner, Michael McGrath. It is also being proposed by our group that the MFF must position the EU as the world's leading provider of development and climate aid. The Minister of State mentioned that. Is this something he will support? Might it be a factor in our Presidency next year?”
“I was interested to hear what the Minister of State said, following the conversation we had in the Chamber yesterday. I mentioned the Gates Foundation. He re-emphasised Ireland's commitment to overseas development. That is good news in a world where the cuts in US aid have been described by aid agencies as irreplaceable and having a significant impact. The security piece is important. I want the European budget to adapt and develop in such a way that it is able to meet unforeseen circumstances. I understand 90% of the budget is fixed and 10% is discretionary or can be used to respond to particular situations. Was cohesion policy discussed? What were the budget Commissioner's views on that? To what extent does the Minister of State think that increased security expenditure might impact on this?”
“As Chair of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, I met the ambassador recently. I am a little concerned that so much time in the House is spent on Gaza, which I understand, particularly as Chair of the committee, is justified, that Ukraine has slipped down the agenda and we need to keep it up. The continued acceleration of attacks by Russia poses a significant threat to the European Union. The Minister mentioned the largest attack in the past couple of days. In Ireland, because we are so remote, sometimes we do not appreciate that fully. However, a threat to the European Union threatens the values we take for granted and essentially threatens our way of life. The continuous highlighting of this Russian aggression against Ukrainians is necessary in the House.”
“What is interesting from listening to the debates here in the past week is the criticism of the Government about its stance on the Iranian regime from some of the far left voices in the House and a complete ignorance about who supplies an awful lot of these drones to Russia to continuously attack a part of Europe. I understand the special tribunal I referred to in the question is the first international judicial body since the Second World War with jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute individuals regardless of their position suspected of committing the crime of aggression. The establishment of the tribunal marks the culmination of years of legal work by Ukraine, its partner countries, the Council of Europe and the European Union to ensure justice for the victims of Russian aggression.”
“I want to ask the Tánaiste about the special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which we hope will be able to investigate and prosecute senior government and military leaders responsible for the crime of aggression up to and including heads of state. He might update the House in that regard.”
“On the subject of our contributions, we had the Gates Foundation in yesterday. It was about maternal and child health. Ireland remains up there with just the Nordic countries and the Dutch in retaining that level of support. We are beacons in the ocean of development aid funding, but specifically in that area. The Minister of State may want to comment further.”
“Could the Department consider reimbursement for tax relief purposes for those parents who had to seek private care to ensure their children's dental health was looked after? Could the Minister confirm that no cohort would be skipped in the school dental programme, in the interests of fairness, equity and restoring trust in public services?”
“As an aside on the GPO issue, the GPO has always been a hub of business transactions for well over a century. I am really excited by the Government's plans and the cultural and historical aspects. The GPO was always a hub of business and business transactions. My question relates to a serious backlog in HSE dental check-ups for primary school children. Constituents have contacted me about their son who is now finishing fourth class. He missed out on this check-up because of Covid when he was in second class and he will not now be seen until sixth class, which will be in 2027. This child missed vital months of early education during Covid and is now being denied access to essential dental care. Could there be a catch-up programme for children who missed their second-class assessments?”
“Most tragically, though, 82% of fatal collisions involving learner drivers between 2019 and 2023 involved unaccompanied drivers.”
“The waiting times for driving tests are increasing at my two local centres in Tallaght and Deansgrange, which serve constituents in Dublin South-West. I had a call to my office this morning from a constituent whose son has been waiting over nine months for a test. He represents Ireland in athletics and his father, who works in a hospital, has to accompany him or drive him around the country to races. All his son wants is his independence to drive himself, but he cannot as he is still waiting for his test. Second, pass rates are very concerning, at just 40.3% in the Tallaght centre and 53% in Dún Laoghaire-Deansgrange, highlighting the urgent need for better support. We know too that there has been a rise in unaccompanied learner drivers and in vehicles being seized.”
“I wonder about the unrealistic ultimatums that emerge from the US on a daily basis and how difficult that must be to deal with diplomatically. I imagine the uncertainty of that and the lack of a direct path make diplomacy quite difficult. There was an impression at the outset of the new US Presidency that the President enjoyed a special relationship with the Russian President but now there are public clashes, so it is very foggy and unsteady from day to day. The US President is taking a very unsteady approach to diplomacy. On sanctions, I am interested in what the Tánaiste is saying about the shadow fleet and I ask him to say a little bit more about that. On global diplomacy, will the Tánaiste give us an insight into his view on the direction of travel of this conflict?”
“I appreciate the combined answer there. I have a couple of comments. The Tánaiste will be aware of this and the briefings he gets will be far more sophisticated and informative than what I would be privy to, which is reading some of the international newspapers today, but it looks like Russia is mounting a further offensive into Ukraine. There is a lot of commentary in the press about what the US President's next step will be. The US President had said if Russia did not take certain steps, then he would not just consider sanctions but issue them. I do not know what the latest commentary is on that. We in the foreign affairs committee will be hosting the Ukrainian ambassador as well and doing our small piece in keeping that high on the agenda. I will be very keen and interested to hear what the ambassador has to update us on.”
“There are public health benefits, climate action benefits, community spirit benefits and local business benefits from it.”
“The previous Government invested a huge amount in active travel and cycle projects that are beginning to connect up. As many people did, I cycled in this morning. It is now possible to cycle a good way into the city from the south side on off-road cycle tracks. I raised this when I was in opposition. In of all places, Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, the ciclovía is a weekly event where streets are closed to cars every Sunday and on holidays, transforming them into recreational spaces. This tradition has been running there for over 50 years and is a popular way for the residents of Bogotá and visitors to enjoy the city. It is a certified carbon-neutral initiative and remains a powerful example of practical, low-tech, environmentally friendly solutions that many cities around the world could be inspired by and emulate.”
“I hope in a tiny way that the moves by my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, today in terms of the speech he delivered, the apology he delivered and, most particularly, the commemorative piece in terms of the scholarship that is being initiated in memory of Shane O'Farrell goes some way to ensuring that the dash in his biography continues for time to come.”
“The dash is contained between the year they were born and the year that they passed away. I will go back to my original point about how careless some people are with the lives of others. That carelessness, and the carelessness of the State through various organs of State, ensured that the dash in the case of Shane O'Farrell's life denotes a very short period of time. I will quote from the poem: For that dash represents all the time That they spent ... [alive] on earth. And now only those who loved them Know what that ... [little] line is worth.”
“He said he agrees with the O'Farrell's that had the convictions of 16 February, 23 February, 8 March, 9 May, 11 May, 8 June, 15 July and 25 July been brought to the attention of Judge O'Hagan, the outcome of this could have been so much more different. He went on to say that his report is not a report that needs to establish facts since those facts are very readily apparent from the charges laid against Gridziuska in the year leading up to the death of Shane O'Farrell. In those lines is also contained the need for the apology to the O'Farrell family because in spite of all those facts, justice was not done. There is a poem written by Linda Ellis called "The Dash". Some people may be familiar with it. It essentially relates to a summary of people's lives.”
“I did not have an answer to that, except in my own head I was hoping that the gesture was enough to show that this was not going away and that we would continue to do our best to highlight this until we got to some semblance of truth in the matter. As I would expect from him, the Minister has very eloquently outlined each failure in terms of some of the organs of the State, so there is no point in me going back over that. Of course, the people who have expressed these facts most articulately and cogently are the O'Farrell family themselves. My admiration for them is boundless. They have kept the memory and the issue around Shane's needless death alive. There are just two bits I would like to paraphrase from the Minister's speech.”
“I took an interest in this as a newish Deputy when we were in opposition between 2016 and 2020 for one reason, and one reason only, which is that the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy John McGuinness, kept raising it at Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meetings. I did not know who Shane O'Farrell was. I did not who Lucia O'Farrell was or who the O'Farrell family were, but John McGuinness kept raising it. He was relentless as an advocate and I must say, my admiration for him, which had been considerable at that time, just grew and evolved because he just would not let it go. One Saturday evening, by arrangement with Lucia and her husband, I drove up and visited them. Her husband asked the most important question at the end of the night: what can you do? Why have you come here?”
“You become so pronouncedly aware of the value of life, the moment of life, the uniqueness and individuality of life and the passing phase of life and the unique, amazing opportunity we all have as human beings to have been born and to have experienced life. The one thing we learn is that some people are so careless about other people's lives. That is a point that really impacts me as I get older and as one begins to appreciate the value, importance and pricelessness of time. It is those thoughts that are to the front of my mind when I think of the O'Farrell family who are sitting behind me this evening.”
“Words are completely inadequate, but I want to share some thoughts in spite of that. I warmly welcome the steps taken by my colleague the Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan, to try to bring some - I will not say closure - sense and reason to the awful events that happened in Carrickmacross a decade and a half ago. I am very happy the Leas-Cheann Comhairle is in the Chair to oversee the proceedings. When you get a little older in life, certainly in my case anyway, you become acutely aware as each decade passes of your mortality. It might seem odd to raise my mortality in the context of this debate - I just mean in relation to anybody's mortality. Why do I raise it?”
“However, it often strikes me that the home of institutes of technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, never saw fit to change its name because it had established itself as a market leader and as a brand that was really worth selling. Let us not lose that brand. I would love to see a gap year between the ages of 18 and 25. I would love to see community service or non-military national service that allowed students to leave for the year and do the State some service across a range of areas. We could be really innovative in that and they could really serve their communities well. I welcome the statements. I wish the Minister, Deputy Lawless, the very best. I was delighted when he was appointed. I know there is a good Minister in position, and that he will give it his absolute best and work his damned hardest.”
“They will now have to leave this school despite being regarded as the best teacher in it. I am also very interested in higher education as the next step for children with special needs. Whither children with autism when they leave post-primary school? What is the post-primary channel for them? I have spent ten years banging the drum for apprenticeships. We are in love with technological universities. It was John Major who, with the stroke of a pen, turned all the polytechnics in the UK into universities overnight. There is a technological university campus in my constituency. I love it. It is very popular. Some 45% of the students who attend come from the immediate hinterland.”
“Higher education has been amazing but as the Minister, all the other Members of this House and I know, the law does not allow pharmacists to prescribe although they are qualified to do so. Advanced nurse practitioners have qualifications that enable them to do A to Z but the State only allows them to do A to D. There are special needs assistants who have graduate degrees and postgraduate degrees but there is no channel for them to move on, develop themselves and be promoted out of their existing positions. In other words, there is no pathway for them to move on. I was in a Montessori special school recently. I raised this at a parliamentary party meeting last week. The teacher who is regarded as the best in the school was educated in a different jurisdiction and so their qualifications do not enable them to continue teaching here.”
“It is like how people are not able to add when they go into shops any more because everything is done on the calculator or the computer. There was a very interesting article in the Financial Times of all newspapers at the weekend. I was a practising psychotherapist for a number of years and it prompted me to go back to the theme of Ireland being the well-being capital of the world. I know I do not need to underpin that. It is an opportunity waiting to be taken. This really interesting article in the paper was about forest medicine and nature therapy. Dr. Martin Daly will be interested to hear that some GPs in the UK are prescribing this kind of therapy to patients to help them deal with depression and mental illness.”
“It was at that meeting that the Taoiseach made a commitment to all the third level presidents and chairs, the good and the great, that, if elected to government and made Taoiseach, he would establish a Department of higher education, research and innovation for the first time. He was true to his word eight months later. It was really good to be there on that day. We very often see the best of higher education. I do not mean this in a disparaging way but in the past few weeks when there was the big power cut in Spain, we saw that country go into complete convulsions. People simply did not know what to do when all of their electronic gadgets and whole digital world utterly stalled. That is the downside of people not being educated and trained in some of the real basics of life.”
“I, too, congratulate the Minister and the Minister of State on their appointments. Like others, this is the first opportunity I have had to do so. The Minister can take as read that I support the thrust of what the previous speakers, Deputies Martin Daly and Barry Ward, the good Deputy beside me, have said. I will take a slightly alternative route, however. The Dáil had gone into recess in July 2018 and our party leader, the current Taoiseach, was speaking at an event for the heads of third level colleges and institutions at the Alex Hotel. I do not know what possessed me but I said I would ramble down to hear what he had to say. He made a commitment there. His speech was well worth digging out. From a Fianna Fáil perspective, he traced the origins of our interest in education back to Dr. Paddy Hillery and up through Donogh O'Malley.”
“For example, South Dublin County Council could enter into negotiations with Bord Gáis, Energia or Electric Ireland to say that it has 10,000 homes and wants the company to give it a rate. Even though the customers are all individual bill payers, this would not contravene GDPR or their privacy rights. It could significantly reduce the cost of energy to those homes over time. I ask the Taoiseach to comment.”
“I thank the Taoiseach for taking the question. I have enjoyed reading NESC reports on and off for the last 30 years. I noticed that one of the most recent ones, which was also referenced by the Taoiseach, was in regard to energy poverty. Successive Governments have introduced schemes like the warmer homes scheme, which is very valuable, and we also have the fuel allowance. These cost the State significant amounts of money and it is right that the Exchequer pays this money out. However, it has often struck me that for a local authority like my own, South Dublin County Council, which has a housing stock of, say, 8,000 to 10,000 homes, the Government could mandate it to look at bulk buying of energy for social homes. NESC could also examine this.”
“The first issue that the Danish Minister for European Affairs raised today was security and defence because they are terrified. It is a topic that the Minister of State has referred to previously. I recall him saying that every house in Sweden has received a brochure through its door about preparedness in the event of war. We are insulated and isolated. Thank God for that, and thank God we are surrounded by water, but there is a reality out there. The freedoms we take for granted are not under attack from the European Union; they are under attack from forces such as Russia. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for his forbearance.”
“One of the issues I raised with her was that Ireland is the only European country to have called out the deprivation and the denial of food aid to people in Gaza as a war crime, and she acknowledged that. That is what we need to keep doing as parliamentarians - to continue raising it at every particular opportunity that arises. Today, I think to some degree of the context that brought about the European Union, which was the desire of European countries to destroy each other over centuries, and the annihilation, almost, of a race and religion during the Second World War. Freedoms have not really been mentioned. On the freedoms that we take for granted, a previous speaker said the European Union is worth fighting for.”
“The Taoiseach called out the horrors yesterday at the Global Ireland Summit in front of as large an international representative audience as you could get, from around the world and the European Union. I wish he could do it every day but that seems to be what is being asked for on the Opposition benches. My colleague Deputy O'Meara put it very well with regard to the inability of the European Union to act cohesively on Gaza. Ireland has been very clear about it. The Taoiseach was exceptionally clear about it yesterday, as was the Tánaiste. The Danish Minister for European Affairs was here this morning meeting members of the European affairs committee, of whom I am one.”