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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“I spoke yesterday about my concern about the religious orders' interactions with the State and the need for them to be very careful about being bullied by the State in the context of future redress arrangements concerning not abuse in schools, which is a very separate thing, but what happened in mother and baby homes. I do not suggest that there is not a case in some cases for redress but I am very troubled. I read this morning an excellent article by John McGuirk on Gript about the Tuam babies and the whole cultural narrative being presented around that. I have heard of no credible suggestion or evidence of foul play and heard of no finding by any commission about deliberate neglect.”
“Agents of the State have said they want to extract millions of euro from the Legion of Mary, which was exemplary in trying to keep mothers and babies in the past. That is the kind of thing that causes many people, including many people of faith, to distrust politicians and the State and to say they are not being fully honest brokers in the way they are dealing with this problem. While we all must unite in getting justice, including justice from religious orders where they failed in their responsibilities, let there not be opportunism here. Let there not be a seizing on the latest popular political agenda at the expense of the truth and at the expense of a full measure of justice to all.”
“They will be looking carefully to see whether there is a trustworthy dialogue partner in the State or is it just opportunistic politicians who want to get a cheap grace by being seen to be the loudest in their condemnation of others, which is always an easy task. All that complexity is in there as we seek to put the rights of victims of past abuses at the very top and to tell the truth in a wholesome, holistic and comprehensive way in our society. We must draw a distinction between situations where past injustices occurred and have not been accounted for and situations which for example may have occurred in mother and baby homes where a number of reports have not found evidence or much evidence of abuse and wrongdoing.”
“They want to continue to provide education, which they have done for so long to the benefit of the State and from which countless people have benefited and which many people still want. This is part of the complexity everyone must face up to. It is easy for politicians to spend taxpayers' money, set themselves up in judgment and say they are going to go after religious orders, but the law must be followed. People are entitled to access the courts and to their constitutional rights. There should be an acknowledgement, as I said, of where the religious who have an obligation to redress wrong are already doing it.”
“It should be possible, while condemning everything that was wrong and demanding justice, never to forget to mention the good, untiring, selfless contributions made by many religious congregations and individuals who were exemplary. That should never be forgotten or left out. The State could too easily in this set itself up as the adversary of religious orders and trusts in education. I should declare an interest here. I sat on the board of one of those trusts for almost a decade in the past and I know the good work they have done. People often describe this situation as one where religious orders pushed their resources into trusts so they could somehow escape accountability for wrongs. They put resources into these trusts because of the decline in vocations.”
“Much is to be expected from religious-run schools, and they should certainly be leading the way in compensation. I understand many have preceded the State in their efforts to do the work of redress. It is something that Government figures do not often acknowledge or acknowledge at all. There may well be parts of this story that show there were unhealthy aspects of a religious culture of authority or decision-making in boarding schools. Time will tell if that were the case. However, even if it were part of the story, it is never the whole story. We have heard eloquent commentary from others here that this is a problem that has to do with all of society. It is a problem to do with wherever authority is exercised by some people over others. Therefore, I hope we can find a way to do justice without demonisation.”
“Out in society there is a more textured and complex narrative, where for example there are many people of faith who want to see a full measure of justice, compensation and redress, where appropriate, where there was abuse or a failure to deal with it and so on, but at the same time reject any demonisation of religious-run education as a category in itself. That problem was contributed to by the State's inappropriate choice of focusing exclusively on religious schools. It contributed to an already unhealthy demonisation of religious-run education, coming sometimes from anti-Catholic and other motives. Saying all that, our first priority must be those who were abused and their entitlement to tell their stories, be heard, be believed and get justice.”
“I welcome the Minister. I welcome the inquiry and wish the judge well. I hope the process will contribute to the processing of pain from past injustices by survivors and to their getting the justice they deserve. I am glad this commission has a broad remit to include all schools. I understand the scoping inquiry grew out of the brave testimony by the Ryan brothers and so on, but it was harmful that the State and original scoping inquiry confined itself to religious-run schools. We have to move beyond the black-and-white narrative sometimes preferred by politicians. There could be a public discussion of this.”
“It is a truly shameful situation that having embraced death and destruction itself our Government seems to want to drag others into the darkness on this and to further ensure the pace of killing. In very recent years, through the Irish Aid programme, millions of euro in Irish taxpayers' money has been provided to the internationally discredited abortion provider Planned Parenthood. Some 55,000 children have died since we passed our laws a mere six years ago. The population of Waterford, almost, has been disappeared. It is a tragic and shameful situation. It is an affront to any decent person of conscience and we have to say enough is enough. When will we be big enough to have a debate in our society about whether we made a mistake with this legislation?”
“Let us think of the children who would now be alive if we had not taken that step in 2018, but CEDAW prefers to lecture us on what it calls persistent barriers to local, timely, equitable and accessible services. Let us imagine talking about barriers to services when one in six children is now being aborted annually. Can there ever be enough abortions for the UN? The Government does not stop at letting the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women tell us what we should do. The Irish representative on CEDAW has called on Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic to decriminalise abortion. We have pressurised El Salvador and Malta to broaden abortion access as well. Not only do we abandon our own children, but we seek to influence other countries to abort theirs.”
“If I were in any of the parties of government of recent years, I would be ashamed and would feel inclined to bring those figures out under the cover of darkness. In 2024, there were 10,852 abortions in Ireland, which was certainly a doubling or more of the pre-2018 figures. So much for the Fine Gael "Safe, legal and rare" mantra, which has led us to where we are now. Is this really what people wanted or expected when they voted to remove protection from unborn children some years ago? I remember well when Irish media would not carry any advertisement that had the claim that the pro-life clause in our Constitution saved more than 100,000 lives over 30 years. They said it was misinformation. We are a mere six years on and now we know because the abortion death toll has reached more than 55,000 lives lost.”
“Last week, I spoke about the ridiculous report of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW, and how it wants us to rerun our care referendum on mothers in the home. That committee was not satisfied with the overwhelming rejection by the Irish people of tired modernist thinking and thinks we should try again. I now draw attention to that same committee's commentary on abortion in the Republic of Ireland. The advice it provided predated by days the release by the Department of Health of the annual abortion figures for Ireland, which seemed to have been smuggled out on the last Friday evening in July very shortly before the Oireachtas closed for business. The figures are appalling and distressing.”
“What type of policies should we now advance to vindicate the rights of mothers and fathers in the home and help people who want to get off the treadmill of having to bring up kids at home and work outside the home? People are being seen as tools of the economy rather than the economy serving family life. Let us be done with the arrogance of that UN committee and let our Government focus on what the people decided last year and see what policies should be brought forward to respect that decision.”
“Indeed, our courts have held that the clause relates to fathers' duties in the home. What does it say about the arrogance and disconnection of self-appointed, or almost self-appointed, supposed human rights experts that their response to a decision by the Irish people about their Constitution is to say that they made the wrong decision and we should see how it could be run again? What would it say about our Government if it were to give any respect to that kind of proposal? This is the kind of elitist arrogance that brings the UN into disrepute, quite frankly, and which advances the cause of populists. What our Government should be doing is seeking to interrogate what the Irish people meant when they rejected that change and voted to affirm the clause that recognises the special contribution of mothers in the home.”
“We learned in recent days that the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW, has recommended that we rerun the referendum on Article 41.2 of the Constitution that relates to women in the home. In our Constitution, the State recognises that woman, by her life within the home, gives the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved and the State pledges to endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be forced by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home. When the Irish people were asked remove that from the Constitution, they gave a resounding "No". They did not do so because they thought women should be chained the sink at home. They did so because they value the work done by mothers and fathers in the home.”
“A look at the Murphy commission's report and at the McAleese report should leave us all clear that, while people must always compensate where they have been abusing or have failed to act on abuse, the fact that religious organisations were involved in giving care in a very impoverished and sometimes cruel Irish past is not a reason to target those organisations simply because they are religious organisations. It is a form of extortion when one considers the disproportionate resources that the State has. To think that Roderic O'Gorman and, as far as I know, his successor Norma Foley are going after the Legion of Mary, an organisation that worked so hard to keep mothers and their babies together, shows the failure to think this issue through and the failure to be responsible and fair as we assess where responsibility lies in these matters.”
“This brings its own problems, though. He has been given a five-year period in which to report. It is part of the modern history of our country that all of this involves a certain amount of grief-letting, which is difficult as a society. Let us hope that, as a result of all this, there will be comfort brought to people who have suffered and redress where it is deserved. On that point, it is obscene that the Government has been seeking to get redress from organisations such as the Legion of Mary in the context of the Magdalen homes.”
“I welcome the announcement by the Government about the establishment of a commission of inquiry into allegations of historical sexual abuse in Irish schools. In particular, I welcome that this is going to focus on all day and boarding schools. I was particularly concerned about the narrowness of the remit given to the previous scoping inquiry. In focusing on all day and boarding schools run by religious orders or employing members of religious orders, there has been a danger because of the context in this country of scapegoating one particular cohort of people when what is needed is accountability by all who have responsibility for past wrongdoings or failures, without fear or favour. I therefore welcome the broad nature of the remit given to the commission of inquiry, which will be led by Mr. Justice Michael McGrath.”
“Whether it was caring for people discharged from residential care in the seventies who had no social supports or looking after the new poor who became stranded with unpayable debts after the collapse of the banks in 2008, the Capuchins followed the times and addressed the problems of the times. Back in 2018, we celebrated more than 50 years of their heroism. That legacy continues through the good work of Br. Kevin's colleagues in the Capuchin order. It is to them in particular that we should all extend our sincere sympathies today. We must commend and continue to support them in the vital work they do for the poor of our society.”
“Brother Kevin was a follower of the Poor Man of Assisi, Il Poverello , St. Francis of Assisi, who in his life of poverty and embrace of poverty and simplicity revolutionised not just the church but also the entirety of western society. Brother Kevin and his Capuchin followers, since the foundation of the Capuchin Day Centre in 1969, have exemplified that commitment to simple living and, from that place of simplicity and love, have contributed to the lives of others, particularly the most vulnerable, responding at all times to the emerging problems in Irish society.”
“I support what Senator O'Reilly just said. The Government has said it is required to implement the European framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia. If it had implemented that alone – no more and no less – we would not have had the controversies we had over the legislation last year. We will test the Government on the extent to which it simply implements the European framework decision in what it may propose in the future. If it is to go much further, as it did last year, it can expect similarly strong opposition from across society and certainly in this House. I join those who have paid tribute to the great man, Brother Kevin Crowley. I was very honoured to have been involved in 2018 when the then Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, presented him with the Oireachtas Human Dignity Award.”
“The only thing that indicates that something is being taken seriously is if they do something about it and a decision appears to have been taken to do nothing. I hope we will have a Minister in here to tell me it is not true.”
“The interim report rushed out in October before the Dáil was dissolved was full of radical proposals but the committee members could not find it in their hearts to urge the use of the 2010 Act to prevent the selling of psychoactive substances in vape shops. It should not be too much to ask of a Minister for Health or justice to come in here and tell us what is being done about these dangerous substances that are being sold over the counter across the length and breadth of the country. Professor Bobby Smyth, a consultant in child and adolescent psychiatry and a clinical professor at Trinity College is quoted in the Irish Examiner : There is no evidence that it is being taken seriously.”
“I was very disappointed by the Fianna Fáil manifesto, which certainly suggested the party was soft on drug use. Now that the new drugs committee has begun its meetings, I hope it takes this problem more seriously than the predecessor committee did, though I fear it will not. I reviewed that committee's 59 interim recommendations. It heard from selected professionals, but I say "selected" because I could not see that there were any or many witnesses who were specifically opposed to the decriminalisation intent of the progressives on that committee. Regarding vapes containing psychoactive substances, that committee failed to make any recommendations despite the evidence heard. That is incredible.”
“It seems clear from the evidence presented in the Irish Examiner that psychoactive substances are being sold and it seems clear also there are professionals out there who will testify to the effects of such substances, so why no action? I fear I know the answer, namely, the Government is soft on drug sale and usage. The programme for Government talks about a "health-led approach" to drugs, which is often unfortunately a code phrase for decriminalisation or even legalisation. I do not object to health interventions for addicts but we should all be clear that our society, especially vulnerable young people, needs the support and protection of the law. Sometimes I get the impression that we do not care about young people anymore and that we are so sold on some principle of autonomy that we do not want there to be any guardrails in society.”
“I join the expressions of sympathy to the family of the late Carmencita Hederman. Like Senator O'Loughlin I remember her well. She was ubiquitous during the Dublin millennium year of 1988 and was a colourful, articulate presence on the media scene. People noticed her, heard her and talked about her. We recall her distinctive contribution to Irish political life and send our sincere sympathies to her loved ones. According to the Irish Examiner last month, there are vape shops selling psychoactive substances across the counter. We have been here before with head shops selling unspecified dangerous drugs. It was thanks to the 2010 Act that we managed to get them closed down. I see no reason gardaí have not been directed to close down vape shops selling psychoactive substances. Do we need the reporting of deaths before action is taken?”
“It would be well worthwhile asking for the Minister to address this particular issue because something scandalous seems to have to gone on if, on the one hand, the Government was negotiating its obligations on the directive and, on the other, this destructive and exploitative stuff being pushed through by the Department of Health at the time.”
“The new Minister has an obligation and the option to change the paradigm. We know there is a problem with any kind of international surrogacy arrangement because it is impossible to implement it in a way that avoids the human trafficking of women and, indeed, of children. Since we know we have no power or ability to prevent the exploitation of women in other jurisdictions, pushing ahead with Part 8 of the Bill would be dishonest and reckless and what the Minister should and must now do now is move to get rid of Part 8 of the assisted human reproduction Act in the forthcoming Bill on assisted human reproduction, which, we are told, is currently being drafted.”
“I wrote to the Minister for Health recently and her private secretary said that issues were identified while the Bill was progressing which required further consideration. They did not say what. I strongly suspect that compatibility between Part 8 of the legislation passed and the anti-trafficking obligations which this country has is at the centre of it. Thanks to Mark Tighe in the Sunday Independent , we know the Department of Justice has said it is working to ensure the new Bill has sufficient safeguards to protect the rights of surrogate mothers, including from the threat of human trafficking, and to make sure Irish law is in line with EU obligations. I do not know what forces have been at work within the Department of Health. This happened under the previous Minister.”
“All of this occurred against the background of a new updated EU directive about combating human trafficking. That directive now lists forced marriage, illegal adoption and the exploitation of surrogacy among the forms of human trafficking which member states, such as Ireland, have a duty to combat. The Government and the Department of Health knew this. The Government was involved in talks on the directive in the months prior to the Bill. It had advice from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission that said that any domestic regulation that seeks to control surrogacy arrangements in other jurisdictions will likely be ineffective in preventing trafficking for exploitation of surrogates, is not considered best practice and is unlikely to be capable of being meaningfully implemented, but the Government went ahead nonetheless.”
“There are many issues that the Department of Health should be grappling with as we all know, not least a lack of oversight of children's healthcare, the scoliosis issue and the endless saga around the national children's hospital. There are a range of issues that should be top priority, but when one looks at some of things that have been prioritised, it should really make us all wonder. Last year, the Department of Health pushed through assisted human reproductive legislation with very little discussion, public or otherwise, of its controversial Part 8 which would legalise controversial international surrogacy arrangements, effectively commercial surrogacy, because it would allow the involvement of paid intermediaries and, in the legislation, the payment of reasonable expenses is contemplated.”
“There are many students, with maybe 400 to 500 points in the leaving certificate, including from non-traditional medical backgrounds, who would love to serve their fellow citizens if they could get a shot at medical school. The shortage of medical personnel, and particularly GPs, makes drastic action imperative. Similarly with nursing places, there are so many who would happily stay to serve in Ireland if they were accepted in nursing college. There may be other places in the economy with critical shortages where we need to take effective action. My point, on which I request a debate, is that we need to stop wasting taxpayer money on highly expensive education programmes. We are not delivering the number of medical professionals that our people need and there is something that can be done, which we must do.”
“One immediate way to address this crisis would be to reserve, say, 50% of all medical places in college for people who would sign contracts expressing a willingness to work in Ireland for up to ten years after graduation. The other 50% could be reserved for Irish or international full-fee paying students. Failure to honour the commitment would require that people pay their fees back in full. Drastic times call for drastic measures. The notion that we can be training people at a cost between €120,000 and €200,000 per person, which is a cost to the State, and letting them then go abroad with their expertise, given we have a crisis at home, is nonsensical.”
“We need 6,000 GPs in this country to provide adequate primary care services to people. We only have approximately 4,500. The country has a shortfall of 1,500 GPs. Meanwhile, 30% of newly qualified GPs are emigrating, seeking better working conditions and opportunities. This haemorrhaging of doctors and nurses to the US, UK, Canada and Australia is a crisis. The Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP, annual conference heard at the weekend that three quarters of GPs were not accepting new medical card patients and just over two thirds were not taking private patients in 2023. There are approximately 2,000 nursing and midwife positions currently unfilled in the health sector, with 53% of nurses currently practising here having been trained abroad.”
“In some cases parents will not have even heard of them but there will be a craze among teenagers. Dr. O'Shea also warns against the potential excessive influence from vested interests who will make the arguments about the nanny state, job losses, and so on. At the end of the day, it is an evidence-based approach with public health and young people's health as the priority. That must be the driver here. I commend my colleague, Senator Keogan. I know what the Government is going to do today but let us hope it will not be long before legislation of this kind is on the Statute Book.”
“Donal O'Shea, a person I admire very much. He has important things to say about a range of areas concerned with public health. He described these energy drinks as very bad for children's health. He noted that they have surged in consumption among young children and teenagers in recent years. In his view, there is good evidence that they are bad for people's ability to concentrate and their attention span and if they have any tendency towards anxiety, they drive that. He says they should simply not be freely available to purchase as they are at the moment. He importantly points out that many parents know very little about these drinks. They are unaware of the extent to which their children are buying them as online trends often dictate. These drinks are promoted heavily by influencers through the likes of Snapchat and Instagram.”
“We should examine where countries are going in the EU. The Minister of State will say the Government needs to examine more of this and consider the evidence, etc. It should consider the evidence by all means. Let us have an evidence-based approach but do not take too long over it because this is an important public health issue. It is noteworthy that in the UK many shops of their accord have stopped selling such high energy stimulant drinks of the kind we are discussing. Just two weeks ago, Hungary banned such drinks for children. Poland has done so, and I believe Lithuania as well. The European Parliament's committee of petitions recently decided to maintain a petition on an EU ban. Ireland should do its best to be among the fast movers in this area. I reflect on comments made recently by the HSE lead for obesity, Dr.”
“This is first and foremost a child protection issue and that is a lens through which we should examine this. The amount of sugar and caffeine contained in these drinks is simply dangerous. As has been said, many of them contain very high amounts of caffeine. In some cases, it is between 160 mg and 200 mg per can. That is double the amount found in an average cup of coffee, which is approximately 80 mg depending on the strength. I note the review done by a health-related organisation that was highlighted in a letter recently to Victoria Atkins in Britain, who was the health secretary at the time. Official guidance states that people should consume no more 3 mg of caffeine per kilogramme in the body. Despite this, data from the National Drugs Library shows that 30% of adults, 68% of adolescents and 18% of children consume energy drinks.”
“We all regard that as something good and valuable, yet now we are hearing concerns about whether this is introducing children to junk food who might not otherwise be subjected to it. Could it be something that would do more harm than good? There is a huge need for us to take an evidence-based approach to these issues as opposed to a simply market-led approach. That is why I say to those who say that this is nanny statism and we should not overregulate in this area that when it comes to child protection, we cannot be too careful. As Senator Keogan outlined, there is a strong case to be made for the restriction of the availability of certain products where there is a significant body of evidence that they are doing harm. There is a time later in adulthood when people are free to make choices in a more informed way hopefully.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. I commend my colleague Senator Keogan on bringing forward this important Bill. I thank Senators Wilson, O'Reilly and others for supporting it. I am often struck when I am doing the family shopping of what a long way we still have to go in this country in getting people the information they need about the products they are purchasing. It may have to do with place of origin of certain products. There is huge inconsistency if we compare products in supermarkets and so on and in the dangers of processed foods. It is a knotty problem because even when we consider the social good that is the provision of hot school meals, there are concerns about the nutritional qualities of those. Approximately €120 million is being spent annually at this point on school meals.”
“I repeat again my simple call that we would turn our minds and discussion to the dreadful plight of Haiti at this time. I ask that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade would come in to discuss that, and only that, in a particular session very soon.”
“the other morning and told her to stay alert because there was shooting over the hill. Another employee living in the area where the gangs are shooting was hiding in the fields. They ran, as they put it, because there was shooting everywhere. Twelve people crammed into a garden shack and when they could not all sleep there, some slept outside. The police station came under attack locally, a neighbour was killed and others were injured. People and their children are literally sliding and rolling down the hills as they run for their lives. People are being shot in front of others. People are being pulled and dragged, kidnapped, and made to carry the dead bodies of gang members who had been shot. Automatic gunfire is keeping everybody awake at night. Fear is growing and swelling throughout the valleys through nights that seem endless.”
“The goodwill that everybody has towards him at this important moment has been well reflected in commentary from all strands of political and cultural opinion. I would like to add my voice of congratulations and support and who knows, please God we will welcome him to our shores before too long. Last week I mentioned the plight of people in Haiti and the dreadful situation that is unfolding there; the chaos, displacement, gang violence, rape, the death of police and civilians and so on. I want to emphasise again what is going on there. I have heard again from Gena Heraty about the death, violence and terror, with people unable to sleep in their homes at night where she is working. When it begins to get dark they go down deeper into the valley in an attempt to avoid the raiding gangs. A person rang her at 4 a.m.”
“This day last week the name Robert Francis Prevost would have been known to very few people in this House or elsewhere. A week on, he is arguably the most famous person in the world as Pope Leo XIV. He has certainly relegated you-know-who to the position of only being the second most intriguing and interesting person in the world and that is probably no bad thing in most people's view. While the Pope is primarily a religious leader and, as such, his work would be beyond the scope of interest or scrutiny of Parliament, he is a huge figure and has already shown great promise in terms of his capacity to be a bridge builder, to bring people together, and to be a voice for justice, inclusion and decency at a time when the world badly needs such voices in high places.”
“We could have a discussion on what Members can do to support them and what steps need to be taken to enable each of these routes to fulfil their potential. I refer in particular today to the Beara-Breifne route but this would apply to the other routes and hiking and walking activities in Ireland. There are health, tourism and economic dividends. I ask for a debate to be arranged in the near future.”
“I think of people like Jim O'Sullivan in the Beara area and Paddy Naughton on the Hymany Way, which covers my own neck of the woods and that part of the Beara-Breifne Way. Senator Scahill probably lives in the Suck Valley section of the route. It would be timely for a Minister, presumably the Minister for tourism, to update us on the plans for the Beara-Breifne route. Quite apart from the health and recreational benefits for our own people, the amenity has the potential to be a huge part of Ireland's Hidden Heartlands tourism offering. As members of the Oireachtas who come from different parts of the country, we should pay attention to the potential of these kinds of amenities and do our best to support them. It would be timely for the House to have a debate on Ireland's walking routes as it would allow us time to focus on some of them.”
“In the context of congratulating our young friends from Birr a few minutes ago, I had a conversation with them, which turned to the topic of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, in which many of us have a great interest. We have our own very fine walking routes in Ireland, such as the increasingly popular St. Declan's Way between counties Tipperary and Waterford. There is also the famous Beara-Breifne Way, which commemorates the famous and ill-fated march by Donal Cam O’Sullivan Beare and his followers in the wake of the Battle of Kinsale in the early 1600s. The march started with 1,000 people but only a couple of dozen people survived the long walk, having suffered from hunger, violence and all the rest. Over the years, huge work has been done on various sections of the Beara-Breifne Way.”
“Some 5,600 people were killed last year. That is heading for an increase this year, with more than 1,600 already killed between January and March. Gangs control 85% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and now they are moving out to previously peaceful areas like Kenscoff, where Gina and the orphanage are. There was a report in recent days of two police and four civilians being killed. It is happening in all the different areas. What is needed is a greater multinational force. The Haitian police are being supported to a limited extent by a UN police mission led by the Kenyans. They have about 1,000 personnel, but 2,500 is what was envisaged. Is our country engaged or concerned by this? Can we play a part in trying to address this desperate situation?”
“She knows what is going on in the world with Trump, tariffs, Ukraine, Gaza and all the terrible things but she says somebody needs to talk about Haiti. She says how, over the border in the Dominican Republic, immigration agents are beating the hell out of Haitians before sending them back. They drag them out of hospitals and deport them. They bulldoze their little houses. She mentions how in recent days hundreds of people jumped into a flooded river to try to escape gangs in the centre of Haiti. She says she could write forever but she is begging us to pay attention to this. I ask for the Minister to come in and for us to have a debate about this matter. Haiti is a country that is descending into chaos, with about 1 million people made homeless as a result of the gang violence, the killings, the sexual violence and so on.”
“It is about nine years since we presented in this House the Human Dignity Award to Gina Herrity, an heroic woman who has been working in Our Little Brothers and Sisters orphanage in Haiti since 1993. She has suffered violence in that chaotic country. She wrote to me last week and what she had to say was terrifying. She is asking people to give attention to what is happening in Haiti. She talks about gangs destroying the country section by section, raping, plundering and murdering in horrific fashion, with thousands and thousands being pushed out of their homes. Even her mountain area, Kenscoff, about 10 km from Port-au-Prince, is, she says, surrounded by gangs. The orphanage's employees live in fear of their lives.”