Rónán Mullen
National University of Ireland · Independent · Ireland
“The fun side of her personality certainly came out during her participation in "Strictly Come Dancing". I think she had the humility to see that even if on occasions she could be seen as cutting a slightly absurd figure, she used that to generate affection and attention for the points of view she held a deep conviction for.”
“I also welcome our French dignitary and say, Vive la France ce soir et vive le Chemin de St. Jacques en France, I would say, à titre personnel. I do not think I was the only one in this House who was very shocked and upset by the news of the murder of Ann Widdecombe last Friday.”
“This Bill, I think, is the opportunity for the Government to recognise that it is not just extreme or violent pornography that is the problem.”
“Teresa's in Clarendon Street at 12.45 p.m. It is time for us all to reflect on the risks people in public life face, not just during their parliamentary careers but afterwards as well. Let us hope for a more secure and safer society for us all where people can express their ideas in a forthright and honest way and not be harmed for that.”
“He is so worried about adult privacy rights that he is not willing to commit to what is needed to protect children from being able to access pornography now. There is one thing the Minister of State did not say. He said that there is already existing online safety regulation restricting access to pornography, but is it working?”
“I acknowledge the work done by Coimisiún na Meán as the regulator in the online space. With all it has on, its role requiring parental controls, reporting, flagging and complaint mechanisms is important. It is undoubtedly attempting to fulfil its remit in demanding age assurance mechanisms of online platforms.”
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“Where the courts, in the view of the majority of governments of the Council of Europe, are seen to have lost their way ever so slightly, we cannot pretend that this is just about a conversations between governments and courts. Governments want the European Court of Human Rights to reassess its position, not on every issue but on some issues where jurisprudence has made it impossible, in the view of those governments, to secure the common good for the people in their respective jurisdictions. There can be nothing wrong when it comes to democratically elected governments meeting, discussing and identifying issues of concern in decisions that have been made, and, in this case, seeking to get the European Court of Human Rights to reconsider and reassess the situation.”
“If we are to have democracies, we cannot set up judges as dictators who can turn previous understandings on their head without any future change being possible. We might as well just appoint judges to run our countries altogether if that was to be the judicial function. It is not the judicial function. It is the role of judges to interpret and apply the law. It is the role of democratically elected governments to secure the common good in their countries according to their lights and according to the desire and the will of the people as expressed. Yes, that is subject to higher duties, and it cannot be that Governments can cause their legislators to legislate for just anything. Yes, there are international understandings about what is necessary in order to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
“I thank the Cathaoirleach. I assure Senator Flynn that if I were planning to veer into the issues and the controversies around trans matters, I would be saying an awful lot more than I have been saying on this point. I merely give it as an example as to how human rights bodies have feet of clay,and how they propose ideas as though they are holy writ when, in fact, they are certain people's views of the world. In the same way, there is considerable reason to think that aspects of the European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence have been shaped in some ways by ideology. Everybody is entitled to their own philosophy, and some people will say that one person's judicial philosophy is another person's ideology. I get that. The fact is that the courts have gone in a particular direction.”
“----whereby the council held out a certain state of affairs as being an obligation that schools had to use pronouns and suggested that they might be on the wrong side of the law when, in fact, the law is in no way settled on those issues at all. We had an NGO receiving money, I think from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, towards the preparation of this document that misrepresented the law for political purposes. I offer this as an example to show that human rights advocates and human rights academics sometimes like to lead us to believe that a certain state of affairs must apply as a matter of human rights law when, in fact, they are very often pushing their own agenda - an agenda might be shared by practically all of them. That is an example of groupthink;, it is not necessarily an example of correctness.”
“Liam Herrick of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission gave the Minister a wallop for signing Ireland up to the letter to which I referred earlier with 26 other countries. Mr. Herrick had an association, at one point at least, with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. A number of us here pointed out in recent weeks how the latter had misrepresented the state of the law in Ireland in a booklet that was produced for schools around their obligations regarding pronouns and so on in the context of trans issues. What we saw was a kind of bait and switch-----”
“There is an NGO that I have a lot of respect for, namely the European Centre of Law and Justice, which has done a considerable amount of research. It looked, for example, at the way the George Soros Open Society Foundation seemed to have an awful lot of influence in forming human rights activists who ended up, in many cases, as I understand it, on the court. There is a great risk of groupthink in the world of human rights on a range of issues. Sometimes, human rights bodies talk as though the ideas they are promoting were handed down from Mount Sinai and cannot be questioned and are somehow a true and authentic interpretation of the context of human rights. That is very far from being the case. Some organisations, even in our own country, have feet of clay. Mr.”
“When I give talks to students, as I occasionally do, I mention the fact that we can count ourselves fortunate that our judges are independent and that a Taoiseach or a Minister cannot ring up a judge in the middle of the night and say "You had better decide that case this particular way, or else." Sadly, there are people in far too many parts of the world who live under systems whereby there is no separation of powers and where executive power rules all, corrupts the rule of law and frustrates the ability to keep everybody equal before the law. I am aware of all of that. There has to be respect for the independence of the judicial function. Let nobody say that this means that the judicial function is always perfect and always right.”
“I refer here to countries that have genuinely frustrated the cause of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The concern with regard to avoiding a perception of relativism or some kind of moral hazard to the effect that certain countries will somehow disregard the common understanding of human rights cannot be turned into some kind of a dogma whereby decisions made by the courts can never be questioned. Courts are sometimes activist, and they sometimes lose their way. It is not just international courts that can lose their way. It is a very important principle of a democracy that there is a separation of powers.”
“I am not normally one for saying that just because everybody is in favour of something that means it is somehow a good idea. The Minister's position on this has to be examined on its merits. Both he and Ireland are in the right in joining with other countries and seeking to interrogate the way the European Court of Human Rights has functioned in respect of these issues, and to ask those hard questions of the court. This has given the Council of Europe and the bureaucracy relating to it a fit of the vapours for the very good reason that they are anxious to prevent any perception that the authority of the court is somehow relative and that this might somehow give succour to countries in respect of cases where decisions have been made by the court that were very much deserved.”
“Some 26 countries out of the 46 now on the Council of Europe, since Russia is no longer a member, have a clear position that there has been overreach by the European Court of Human Rights in its interpretation of the convention in such a way as creates unacceptable difficulties for member states as they seek to protect their citizens and promote the common good according to their role. What is interesting about France, Germany and Spain is that in some of those countries it is not that they are on the other side of the argument as Senator McDowell has said. They are on board with the process. It also reflects possible political differences of opinion in their situations. That is what has prevented some of them at least from signing up to the letter as well.”
“I currently serve on the Irish parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe along with Senator Stephenson. I have great respect for her and for her concerns. I also serve on the committee on the appointment of judges to the European Court of Human Rights. I have taken a great interest in what has happened with Ireland's position in joining the Danish initiative with 25 other countries to ask in effect for a fresh conversation and rebalancing of the interpretation of the convention by the European Court of Human Rights. Senator McDowell mentioned France, Germany and Spain and I find their position interesting.”
“Does the country need to get a measure of control back so that we do not end up in situations where, notwithstanding the heart-rending nature of such cases, the State ends up being forced to compensate people at a level where it cannot compensate its own citizens in the same way, thus creating inequalities, resentments, etc.? I would be glad to hear the Minister's response to that.”
“The Minister has been criticised and Ireland has been criticised for being one of 26 member states that have signed up effectively to an initiative that will lead to a development at the committee of the foreign ministers this year, but there is a recalibration of the operation of the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights in prospect because member states have certain needs. What is the Minister's attitude to the operation of European law if it is leading to decisions such as we have seen in the instant case in the Ferriter judgment? Does he want to see change? Would he envisage that Ireland should seek to reclaim a measure of sovereignty, such as is set out in Senator McDowell's amendment?”
“What was said yesterday was effectively that the Government's hands are tied because of the operation of European law and that this goes back to the Lisbon treaty, but I am mindful that in another forum the Minister is party to seeking to change the way things work around migration. In particular, I am thinking of the fact that Ireland has signed up to the initiative with various other countries at Council of Europe level to effectively get the European Court of Human Rights to rethink the operation of human rights law around the right of states to expel non-nationals who have criminal records. That, indeed, gave the European Court of Human Rights a fit of the vapours.”
“The fact was, though, that this gentleman came to the country after he had been in Hungary following a serious car accident. In his case, an award of €9,000 was made. The other case that was cited in the judgment of Mr. Justice Ferriter related to Mr. J, a 22-year-old Christian from India who had entered the State in March 2023. He had been forced to flee India because of his involvement in an interfaith relationship, but he went to London, where he lived for 17 months, and then came to Ireland to claim asylum. Mindful of what has been said by Senator McDowell and the Minister when we were talking about these Francovich damages, what is the Minister's view as to the reasonableness of this?”
“I echo what Senator McDowell, the Minister and no doubt others have said, which is that nobody would ever want to make any moral judgment on people who seek to come to this country, often in the most difficult of circumstances. The issue is, of course, that we have to keep a structure, a cohesiveness and a reasonableness to our asylum and migration system, for the sake of fairness to those who cannot come to this country and for the sake of our economic and social cohesion, and also keeping in mind our humanitarian obligations and the security of this country in the longer term. Two heart-rending cases struck me. The first was the case of Mr. A, a 25-year-old man from Afghanistan who was forced to flee. The Taliban killed an older sibling and there were various other horrible circumstances in his life.”
“It seems to me that regular reporting on the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers is all the more appropriate precisely because of the human distress at the heart of so many of these stories, regardless of whatever adjudications have to be made on people's cases. I also commend Senator McDowell on spotting a Standing Order of the Seanad that may perhaps be more honoured in the breach than the observance. I would like to hear the Minister's view. It is so long since I memorised the Standing Orders of this House that I cannot remember whether I actually did or not. I do not know whether there is a similar Standing Order in the Dáil. I would be glad to hear the Minister's attitude to the provision Senator McDowell has just referred to.”
“I support Senator Boyhan on this amendment. The more one engages with this, no matter what side of the various proposed amendments one is on, the more one sees that we are dealing with legislation that is unusually concerned with, quite frankly, human misery on many levels. It is difficult for any government to try to strike the balance, to use a phrase the Minister has used several times over the past few hours as we have debated this. One thing for sure is that even when one cannot guarantee the type of life for people who come to this country for whatever reason because of the requirements of having a sane and sensible migration system, there can be no doubt that in all of the State's dealings with people there must be an attempt to respect their human dignity in all cases.”
“There are issues of the most compelling importance at stake with this legislation and it is a disgrace and an indictment of the Government and of all who support this measure that the guillotine is being proposed here again today.”
“Senator Fitzpatrick tackled me recently enough when I said that I thought the Government was soft on drugs. That is the kind of messaging, though, that says to me that the political establishment and the health establishment in this country are in some ways soft on drugs, at least on soft drugs. I think that is very bad for our society. I will conclude by saying what I intended to start by saying, which is that it is a disgrace that it is yet again being proposed to guillotine important legislation. The parliamentary guillotine should be a method of last resort when there is genuine urgency and haste on an issue of great importance. There is time to discuss this important legislation properly, to consider amendments and to have things thoroughly gone through.”
“Patrick’s Day Festival festivities, part of the invitation the HSE had to give was that "anyone who uses powder and crystal forms of drugs in Ireland" should "start low and go slow". Well, that might be a very good soundbite and it might make sense to people who have harm reduction very much on their minds, but do they not realise that what they are actually doing with that kind of discourse is endorsing drug taking? This is the same as the way in which policies of checking people’s drugs at festivals and so on may be well intentioned but are hopelessly naive and this undermines the effort to curb drugs in our society with all the chaos that causes for people, not just here, but in the places abroad from where these drugs are sourced.”
“I would like to say two things. First, I endorse what my friend and colleague, Senator McCarthy, has just said about the drugs strategy and the need, in particular, to ensure that people who use drugs are also heard in this conversation. What we must never lose sight of, though, is that as a society and a collective, and I do not think people will disagree with this, the message should always be that drugs are bad for people and bad for society. I sometimes worry that in our effort to meet people where they are, as important as that is, we lose sight of the importance of keeping the message simple and clear. What prompts this particular reflection is what I read reported in The Irish Times on St. Patrick’s Day, which was that in the context of the St.”
“Gordon Macdonald of Care Not Killing, is that one in four people who would benefit from palliative care in Scotland is not getting it. Countries need to provide proper assistance in dying. High-quality palliative care involves psychological and social support. It is about the alleviation of symptoms of pain and discomfort, but it is also about much more. We need to make sure that, not just at the end of life but in all cases, because while caring is always necessary, curing is not always possible, there are in Ireland broad-ranging supports available so that people do not feel pressured into thinking that their lives do not matter or matter less and that they would be better off asking to have their lives ended. It is such a problem for society when that happens.”
“The lesson we should take in Ireland, given that these debates are coming up and we had a committee of these Houses, on which I served, looking at the issue, is, first, the importance of political leadership. It is noteworthy that the First Minister of Scotland, as well as the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives and the Deputy First Minister, all voted against this Bill. That is the importance of political leadership because this is an issue that can take off and on which there can be highly emotive debates. People can feel manipulated emotionally and pressured to support measures like this that are, in fact, quite dangerous. The second issue, which has been pointed out by Dr.”
“As Members will be aware, the Scottish Parliament has voted by 69 votes to 57 to defeat a Bill that would have introduced assisted suicide in Scotland. This means assisted suicide will be kept out of Scotland. If that Bill had passed in the Scottish Parliament and gone on to become law, it would have ushered in an irrevocable change that would have put vulnerable people at risk and seen the ending of thousands of lives through assisted suicide in Scotland. It is interesting, after two years of debate and intense scrutiny the Bill received, that Holyrood, which is widely regarded as very socially progressive, to use that phrase, came to the conclusion that introducing assisted suicide was unsafe and dangerous. We saw MSPs come to realise the flaws that were in that Bill.”
“There is a lot more that could be said but I would like the Irish Government to take that point on board as well as it goes forward and represents Ireland and Europe and promotes Irish and European values.”
“The European Union and the Commission, by facilitating, enabling and clarifying that one country can basically fund people to access abortions from other countries, really show that the European Union has lost its way. Ireland also has lost its way. One problem that emerges from that is that the people who would be and should be most enthusiastic about the European Union and its potential for standing up for human dignity in a world where it is disrespected in far too many places, far too often, lose enthusiasm for the European project as a result. It saps the energy. When people talk about European values, many of us question: what are these values? Are they actually values that are truly in line with human dignity?”
“It was somewhat welcome that the Commission decided not to submit a proposal to the European Parliament or to the Council for a legal Act establishing a funding programme for cross-border abortions. However, it is bad enough nonetheless that the EU said that existing EU funding instruments could be mobilised by member states to support access to abortion for people from other countries. That redirects the European Social Fund plus financial resources from their original purpose, which was to promote social inclusion, to support employment and to prevent families from falling into poverty. That is what genuine support for women involves.”
“There are issues that I would like to see Ireland always lean in on, which include a respect for national competence, advocating for the freedom of expression and freedom of conscience with regard to European policies and practically speaking, ensuring the EU's agenda does not negatively impact Irish rural communities, that it supports farmers and that we continue to have strong agricultural policies. In the midst of all of that is, Quo vadis EU? What does the EU stand for? I saw last week, for example, the European Commission's formal response to the my voice, my choice initiative, basically looking for member states effectively to fund and provide access to abortions to people from member states where the rules are more restricted.”
“The EU stands in a world where the international rules-based order has broken down. It is a case of, as Senator Higgins and others have said, might is right. There is much to frighten and concern. The Minister of State used the phrase "human dignity". That has to be the touchstone and fundamental principle driving all good political values. Ireland is chairing the meeting so we cannot just drive an Irish agenda through the Presidency but there is the quiet influence that goes with being the one to chair.”
“Patrick Hillery in his capacity as Commissioner at the time. At the same time, I always have been one of those who worried and have been concerned about a certain competence creep from the European Union. This of course was prominent in the days when Ireland had pro-life laws and the whole Maastricht protocol for example was about ensuring that European Union laws and the application of them, would not prevent Ireland from going its own way and having a pro-life position in its laws, particularly securing the eighth amendment that we had in our Constitution. I regret that we have lost something in our country around the protection of human dignity without preconditions as to the stage of a person's life. To some degree, that hobbles us in our ability to project a badly-needed message about European values.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Mr. Hanniffy is also welcome. I wish all the very best for Ireland's Presidency of the European Union. I do not believe anybody doubts but that we have a very talented and dedicated team working not just for the country's best interest in ensuring that we have a successful Presidency but also doing the best for the European Union at what is an increasingly challenging time. There is limited time and there are many issues one could reference. From my own personal perspective, as somebody who has always seen myself in the Christian democratic tradition, I see all the good things, as the Minister of State himself mentioned, that our European Union membership brought. He picked probably the best example, namely, equal pay for women and the role of our former President, Dr.”
“I move amendment No. 5: In the eleventh paragraph under “calls for:”, to insert the following sub-paragraphs, after the second sub-paragraph: “- legislation providing for criminal and civil liability where any entity engaged in the provision of online services within the State fails to take all reasonable age verification measures to ensure that children under 18 are not exposed to pornographic imagery or sexualised deep-fake imagery; - legislation providing for criminal and civil liability where any entity engaged in the provision of online services within the State fails to take all reasonable age verification measures to ensure that children under 16 do not access social media services;””
“I move amendment No. 4: After the tenth paragraph under “calls for:”, to insert the following paragraph: “- legislation prohibiting the use of AI technology within the State for, or the creation or distribution within the State of AI technology which enables, the generation or distribution of nude or pornographic imagery depicting any person real or imagined;””
“I move amendment No. 3: After the fifth paragraph under “agrees that:”, to insert the following paragraph: “- while the harmonisation of European policy and law is a desirable objective, the Government and Oireachtas must not fail to introduce domestic civil and criminal legislation where this is necessary to secure the safety and welfare of children and vulnerable persons;””
“I move amendment No. 2: After the fourth paragraph under “agrees that:”, to insert the following paragraph: “- recent controversies around the use of deep-fake technologies to demean, abuse and exploit people sexually reveal the lack of an enforcement culture and the inadequacy of regulatory structures where stricter legal prohibitions are required;””
“I know Senator O'Loughlin's intentions are completely honourable but, as I said at the committee yesterday in response to something an official from Coimisiún na Meán said regarding this talk about children finding workarounds and going to darker places and there being so much that is positive in social media usage, there is very little difference between this type of talk and the lines we hear from big tech. We need to be aware of this. There is a lot that is good is in the motion but we need to go much further and we need to do so quicker.”
“It is clear, and the evidence is in, that excessive early access to phones and social media has been damaging children's mental health, their intellectual study and their results performance, and we know the connections with cyberbullying, self-image and all of these problems. It would be interesting to hear what Jonathan Haidt would have to say on whether a ban on social media access for under 16s would be a positive development. If the problem is serious, the response has to be serious as well.”
“In this House, I pointed to the apparent success around pornography in some American states, for example, where there was bipartisan support for measures that put the clear onus under criminal and-or civil law on pornography providers which, in certain circumstances, led to them withdrawing their services in particular states. That is effective legislative action. If we could get somewhere like that in this country, an awful lot of parents in particular would feel reassured. There is no time to discuss the amendments in detail. This is about children's mental health. I recommend to everybody to listen to what people such as Professor Jonathan Haidt says. He is an eminent social psychologist and there was a fantastic interview with him recently on the BBC with Amol Rajan on the programme "Radical". Listen to it and learn from it.”
“We see that it is possible and we have seen emerging legislation in France and Italy. We must stop hiding behind the skirts of the EU. The Government at the moment is tending very much towards hedging its bets around this question of a ban on social media access for under-16s. I heard what Senator O'Loughlin had to say this morning, appearing to pour cold water on the idea of such a ban. I will address that in a moment. I am also hearing noise from the Government to the effect that it would be much better if we moved forward with the EU. I am all for harmonisation with the EU but there comes a point where if the problem is not being solved, we need to take measures ourselves.”
“The interplay of EU regulation and domestic legislation, particularly around civil and criminal liability, is a factor. When I brought forward legislation in recent times proposing strict criminal penalties for those who would not ensure strict age verification to ensure persons under 18 would not be able to access pornography, I was effectively told by the then Minister in the last Government that we were constrained here by our European obligations. In recent days, I heard a person from Digital Rights Ireland talking about the maximum harmonisation principle of EU law and the rules around country of origin regulation. In fact, what we know is that when people are sufficiently concerned and member states stamp their feet and say "No", we need to be able to take particular domestic measures.”
“There is the pushback against controls from those who espouse a libertarian philosophy and promote the enablement of certain adult appetites around online services and who seek to make some kind of compromise between child safety and protection on the one hand, and a radicalised view of free expression and privacy on the other. There are questions about the adequacy of regulation itself, the cat-and-mouse struggle to get a situation under control, which we are seeing. We have not had a single prosecution of the purveyors of harmful content online as regards dangerous stuff on social media, or pornography. Users occasionally come within the cross-hairs of the Garda but certainly not those who are pushing the appetites and enabling them.”
“There is the surge of new knowledge around the problems associated with early, by which I mean early in children's lives, and excessive use of smartphones, screens and social media. There is the horrendous damage being done by adult consumption of pornography, not just where it entails in its production and distribution the exploitation of children, but the very exposure of children to pornography is in itself a form of child abuse. I say that in light of what we know about the harms it does, the way it rewires their minds, the generation of negative attitudes between men and women and all the rest of it, which we can discuss at another time.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome this motion in general terms. There is lot that is good in it and a lot that I support. I am of the view that it does not go far enough. It clearly nods in the direction that online safety is something that has to be a priority in the context of pursuing the economic potential that big tech and AI in particular offer. Where we might differ is that there is a difference between something being a priority and something being the priority. There are a number of issues in play here. There is the unique role of the Irish regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, because so many big tech companies' platforms have their European headquarters in Ireland.”
“I move amendment No. 1: After the third paragraph under “agrees that:”, to insert the following paragraphs: “- such benefits as may exist for children in the use of social media are now clearly seen to be outweighed by the negative impact on children’s learning ability, mental health and general welfare of early and excessive exposure to online social media; - the widespread availability of pornography in particular poses dangers to society, and especially to children and vulnerable persons, and that it must be recognised that any facilitation of access to pornography for children is itself a form of child sexual exploitation and abuse;””
“Tuigim go bhfuil go leor daoine san Eoraip nach bhfuil Gaeilge acu, ach tá sé an-tábhachtach go gcuirfear an Uachtaránacht agus gnó na hUachtaránachta os comhair phobal na hÉireann le Gaeilge. Mar fhocal scoir, tréaslaím le hambasadóir nua na Breataine, Kara Owen. Labhair sí linn i nGaeilge aréir ag an ambasáid, agus an-suim léirithe aici sa Ghaeilge freisin. Ba chóir go ngríosódh sé sin muid chun cur leis an iarracht ní hamháin chun an Ghaeilge a choimeád beo, ach í a threisiú sa tír freisin.”
“Cinntítear go mbeidh daoine ann a bhfuil na scileanna éagsúla agus cumas sa Ghaeilge acu. Ag an am, bhí an BA á dhéanamh agam agus níor thuig mé an bhfaigheadh sé luach a chuid airgid asam. Mar a tharla sé, bhí mé ag obair amach i ndiaidh sin i bpost ina raibh gá le hurlabhra agus bhí dóthain féinmhuiníne agam, bíodh is go raibh go leor lochtanna fós ar mo chuid Gaeilge. Sin an sórt físe atá uainn an t-am ar fad, agus ba bhreá liom cur leis an iarracht sin. Go dtí go bhfuil sé le feiceáil agus le tuiscint i gach aon áit gur féidir gnó a dhéanamh trí Ghaeilge i do thír féin, níl an sprioc bainte amach againn. Ba bhreá liom a rá freisin - rud a luaigh mé ag an gcoiste cúrsaí Eorpacha cúpla nóiméad ó shin - gur cheart dúinn a chinntiú go bhfuil an Ghaeilge le feiceáil agus le cloisteáil le linn ár nUachtaránachta ar an gComhairle Eorpach.”
“Tréaslaímid leo siúd sa lá atá inniu ann atá ag cur cúrsaí ar fáil trí Ghaeilge. I mo chás, ní dhearna mé staidéar ar an nGaeilge mar ábhar ollscoile; rinne mé staidéar uirthi go hindíreach. Ag an am sin, bhí fear iontach cumasach ar fad, Peadar Mac an Iomaire, mar stiúrthóir na Gaeilge labhartha. Chinntigh sé go raibh deiseanna acu siúd nach raibh Gaeilge á dhéanamh acu mar ábhar ollscoile freastal ar chúrsaí ar An gCeathrú Rua in Áras Mháirtín Uí Chadhain chun snas agus feabhas a chur ar a gcuid Gaeilge. Ba é an coincheap a bhí laistiar de ná a chinntiú go mbeadh dochtúirí, innealtóirí agus daoine eile nach iad inniúil sa Ghaeilge le seirbhís a chur ar fáil do phobal na Gaeilge, ní hamháin pobal na Gaeltachta. Thuig sé sin. Ba choincheap tábhachtach é. Conas a chaomhnaítear teanga? Conas a dhéantar dul chun cinn le teanga bheo?”
“Agus muid ag labhairt faoi chúrsaí oideachais, d'éist mé leis an méid atá ráite ag an Aire maidir le sprioc 20% na Státseirbhíse. Ní éireofar leis an sprioc sin mura bhfuil an obair á dhéanamh sna coláistí agus mura bhfuil, mar a dúirt an tAire, daoine ag teacht tríd an chóras an t-am ar fad a bhfuil cúrsaí Gaeilge déanta acu agus mar sin de. Is dócha gur luaigh mé seo cheana féin ach bhí mé in Áras na Gaeilge in UCG – tugtar Ollscoil na Gaillimhe uirthi anois – seachtain nó dhó ó shín. Bhí mé ag breathnú ar phictiúir na gceannródaithe, daoine ar nós an tOllamh Mac Aodha, nach maireann, a chinntigh go raibh cúrsaí tríú leibhéal ar fad ar fáil trí Ghaeilge. Nuair a fheictear an obair a rinne daoine den sórt sin trí na blianta, feictear na dúshláin atá romhainn.”
“Moltar freisin go forleathan - tuigim cás Chonradh na Gaeilge agus é á rá seo - go gcaithfear gníomhú ar na moltaí a bhí san athbhreithniú ar an gcéad deich mbliana teanga sa tuarascáil a chur Barr Feabhais le chéile, arna choimisiúnú ag Roinn na Gaeltachta, go háirithe na moltaí maidir le foireann leordhóthanach, cúiteamh cuí agus maoiniú do na pleananna. Caithfear ceannasaíocht a léiriú don phróiseas pleanála teanga nó ní bheidh aon toradh sásúil ann. Ní mór don Stát pleanáil teanga straitéisí a thosú chun an dea-chleachtas pleanála teanga sna ceantair thíreolaíochta a chur i bhfearas don Státchóras agus na Ranna Rialtais ábhartha. Chabhródh sé sin leis an bplean náisiúnta um sheirbhísí Gaeilge ó 2024 go 2030.”