Seán Crowe
Dublin South-West · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“Tallaght and the wider south-west Dublin region have been among the fastest growing parts of the State for decades, yet transport investment has consistently failed to keep pace with the growth. Thousands of new homes planned and a rising population place even greater pressure on our roads and public transport networks.”
“There is a commitment in the programme for Government to enhance driver training but this has not been of much comfort to learner drivers who cannot get an appointment for a test. Numbers on the waiting lists for driving tests continue to climb and waiting times grow longer.”
“I have raised this on a number of occasions, including with different Governments. Could the Tánaiste give the people who rely on the Tallaght and Dún Laoghaire test centres assurances that a new test centre will be opened in south Dublin in 2026? This is something that needs to be tackled.”
“Economic growth means little if it fails to improve people’s lives. Climate action remains one of the defining challenges of our generation, but the transition to a greener economy must be a just one. Workers, families and rural communities cannot be expected to shoulder the cost while large polluters continue to profit.”
“Mar a dúirt an tAire, Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union comes at a defining moment for Ireland and Europe. Communities across the Continent are facing soaring living costs, deepening inequality, housing crises, climate change and growing international instability.”
“Ireland must be at the heart of drafting Europe’s new strategy for security and defence. We need to ensure that the core principles of European foreign policy include accountability for breaches of international law and meaningful international efforts to secure just and lasting peace in many conflicts just beyond our borders.”
The complete record
Every one of 271 lines we hold for Seán Crowe, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 6.
“It barred the entry of vital food aid to Gaza and has bombed it flat, leaving tens of thousands at imminent risk of death by starvation, and still there is no response. The setting up of the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to administer the aid response is wrong on so many levels, including the vetting of aid recipients by cameras and using biometrics, and the guarding of aid by the IDF and armed contractors. That is the proposal. How can those who are inflicting starvation ever be trusted to deliver food aid? Now more than ever, with the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza, we see the need for wholesale reform of the UN Security Council and decision-making. The Palestinian people cannot wait that long. The Irish Government must call for a new emergency special session of the UN General Assembly.”
“Israel's Government is starving the people of Gaza. Starvation is being used as a weapon of war. It is a crime against humanity. It is genocide. The stated goal of the Israeli Government and military is the total displacement of the Palestinians of Gaza. Whether by military force or an artificial famine, they want to ethnically cleanse and resettle Gaza just as they have done in parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Israeli Government knows it can act with impunity, backed by the US and certain European powers like Germany. It has a free rein in how it conducts its vengeful war of extermination. Israel bombs hospitals and the West turns a blind eye. It hit a UN convoy with an air strike and there was no response. It murdered an ambulance crew and buried them in rubble.”
“Practically every Minister's first words in reply to any question are "We intend to" - "We intend to fix the housing crisis", "We intend to solve the shortage of front-line care workers" and "We intend to support children with special needs". We intend to show Ireland has a moral backbone but then why are they so slow when it comes to doing? That is the big question. Why is the Government so slow to do something that will practically change things for the starving people of Gaza?”
“Inaction, allowing billions of euro to be funnelled through our State to fund a genocidal war of aggression, makes us complicit. We rightly froze billions of euro in Russian assets after the invasion of Ukraine so where is the same rationale and approach in making a stand here? Any Government TD who has ever said they supported Palestine and who was vocal in opposition should nail their colours to the mast and support this Bill. Otherwise, we know it was only talk. This Government is very good at talking. Just look at the watered-down version of the occupied territories Bill. An occupied territories Bill without a ban on services is a tokenistic effort that is only there for Government to garner headlines without addressing the root of the problem.”
“It is a fact the Irish Central Bank has been facilitating the sale of Israeli war bonds. It is also a fact the CEO of the Israeli bonds company has directly linked the money funnelled through Ireland with the ongoing war. There is no doubt what this money is paying for. Money is flowing through Ireland and is being used to buy bombs and bullets, the paraphernalia of war. We know these weapons are taking lives in Gaza as we speak here tonight. These weapons are being used to enforce a brutal cordon that is starving men, women and children. This Bill gives Ireland the power to disrupt the flow of blood money. The Central Bank has said it needs the guidance of Government. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Chambers, is silent.”
“Some countries, such as Britain, Canada and France, are only now discussing possible targeted sanctions against named Israelis. This is hardly enough. If Ireland and the wider EU do not take concrete action now, we are giving carte blanche for the levelling of Gaza and its resettlement by Israel. This is not an exaggeration. This is the stated wish of Netanyahu. As a state, Israel must be held accountable for its action and for the wanton destruction and brutal violence that has rained down on the heads of Gazan children.”
“This is a trickle when we need a flood and is only permitted so that Israel can turn around and say it is letting supplies in. It is cynical and callous but it is predictable. There are 2 million people starving in Gaza and that is not an accident. They are being starved just as surely as they are being bombed. The people of Gaza are being denied access to food, water and medicine. What shelter they can cobble together from tarpaulins and sheet metal is woefully inadequate. Far from the lies and smokescreen surrounding the first attack on the Gazan hospital in October 2023, Israel is now deliberately targeting medical facilities and storage areas, such as at the Nasser hospital, which had half of its precious reserves of medical supplies destroyed. The Israeli Government has said there will be no let-up and no negotiations.”
“Looking at what happened to an ambulance and all its crew travelling through Gaza, I wonder what the response of the IDF would be to an humanitarian corridor, but everything needs to be tried. Listening to the contributions of both the Government and the Opposition this afternoon, it is worth pointing out that many of the statements from both sides of the House could be construed as antisemitic according to the IHRA definition to which this Government signed us up. While every effort must be made to stamp out antisemitism, the IHRA definition must not be used as a pretext to criminalise activism against genocide, as has been seen in some parts of Europe and the US. There are more than 53,000 dead in Gaza now, the majority of them women, children and the elderly. Nine aid tracks were allowed to enter Gaza on Monday.”
“We have to throw out the HSE pay and numbers strategy and deliver a long-term, sustainable solution that includes an urgent workforce plan to recruit, train and retain enough staff to finally end this breach of children’s rights once and for all. I agree with Deputy Ardagh on therapists in school. That is the model used in other countries. Children should have access to them in special schools. Unfortunately, in the special school in my constituency the children do not have access to therapists. It is about assessments, but it is also about those supports and they are not coming through. We all need to step up. I listened to everyone and we collectively agree on this issue, so let us see action coming from the Minister of State and her Department.”
“There is no offer of alternative arrangements for the children, just a letter to say services have been ceased. What are the families to do? It is entirely unsustainable to run any branch of the health service when more than half of the posts are vacant. We are running healthcare professionals ragged trying to cover not only their duties but also those of another worker or maybe even two other workers. This leads to poor morale, poor working conditions and inevitable burnout, leading to the loss of yet another critical staff member. For the sake of the tens of thousands of children, this Government must comply with its legal obligations to provide assessments within six months.”
“Children are entitled to an assessment of their health and educational needs within six months under the Disability Act. There are more than 15,000 children waiting right now. That number is expected to rise by more than 9,000 by the end of the year. To put those numbers in context, just 4,000 assessments were completed last year. In CHO 7, which incorporates Dublin South-West, some of the CDNTs are woefully understaffed. CDNT 8, which is based in Chamber House in Tallaght, had a 53% staff vacancy rate at the start of April. CDNT 3 is based in a neighbouring constituency in Crumlin but it had a 68% vacancy rate. The CDNT in Ballyboden, which is part of my constituency, has pulled all speech and language therapy and there is no restoration in sight.”
“While we should be improving public transport and encouraging its use, we cannot deny that, for many, learning to drive is an important life skill in itself and a driver licence is one of the most popular forms of identification for use in everyday life. My focus is on Tallaght because I am its local representative, but this cannot stop with Tallaght. We need to identify where population demands necessitate additional centres and we need to ramp up the number of permanent testers. Every week and month we delay is only adding thousands of learner drivers to a chronically overloaded system. The Minister of State should do whatever he can. It needs to be fixed and the sooner, the better.”
“I raised this matter when Tallaght and Deansgrange had the highest numbers in the State. There should be no obstacles to the centre's opening soon unless there is a lack of political will to do so. If the Government and the RSA are serious about their obligations to learner drivers, it will be up and running before the end of the summer because the level of service currently being provided simply is not good enough. We are denying people access to employment, education and childcare and it cannot continue. I am probably in one of the lucky areas because it is an urban area and there is alternative transport but one hears of students who cannot get to the likes of UCD because of really poor service.”
“Ten weeks is all it should take, but one could be waiting up to ten months at some testing centres. More and more learner drivers are being stopped on the roads driving unaccompanied. I am not condoning it but what can we expect to happen when people have done their lessons and we then force them to wait for six, eight or ten months for a test? What the people of south Dublin want to know is whether a location has been identified for the new testing centre. Has a recruitment campaign for staff begun and when can we expect the first test to be held? These are reasonable questions. None of this should take more than a few weeks. The demand is clearly there. There are only two other centres in south Dublin, namely, in Tallaght and Deansgrange. That presents a huge choice of areas to place a new centre.”
“There were 18,000 people on the lists at the Tallaght driving test centre at the start of this year. This was the highest figure in the State. The Minister of State and I had one or two conversations about it. It was taking seven months on average to get a test. It was reported at the start of April that the Road Safety Authority was planning on opening an additional driving test centre in south Dublin. This is something I have been advocating for in the House for several years and while I am glad that there has finally been an acknowledgement of the problem, it should never have taken this long. There has been a refusal by successive Governments to accept that no test centre is meeting the statutory maximum of ten weeks under the service-level agreement.”
“I ask the Minister to again look at this aspect. That old system was one that worked. The council collected the money and charged the residents. It worked in the past, but the system is not working now. Unfortunately, the people at the end of the pipeline are those who have to suffer.”
“It is all confined to a particular area and the local residents are beyond frustrated with the lack of attention or resolution to their difficulties. Many of the residents blame this problem on a development on what was known as Cosgrave's land, an area named after the former Taoiseach. Hundreds of apartments were built in the neighbouring area and it seems the original water structure is not able to cope with the added demand and required pressure. I ask the Minister to make inquiries to see if anything can be done in this regard. Before I finish, I recall what the tradition was years ago. When there is a sewage problem now, it is the people at the end of the mains who are caught out. They are the ones who have to collect the money off the other residents in this regard. Traditionally, it would have been the council's job to do it.”
“I do not think anyone can deny that the current state of the electricity grid, our drinking water supply and the wastewater network is a constraint on housing delivery. These issues are also inflicting misery on many areas afflicted by frequent water mains failures or boil water notices. One area in my constituency - Knocklyon - has been hit with almost 30 outages in the past three years. There is clearly something wrong. Over the Easter bank holiday, residents in Dargle Wood were left without water for four days as Irish Water struggled to repair the damage after a water main failed on the Saturday. Those residents were left without water until the Tuesday. At least two other water mains have burst since then further up the line, so there is clearly a problem.”
“Sinn Féin would not simply reduce the cost of childcare; we will also work to increase capacity in the sector so that parents can not only afford childcare, but can also access childcare.”
“The voices and needs of early years sector workers have been disregarded by Government, and now it is families who are paying the full price. The level of staff turnover for private early learning and care facilities in the South Dublin County Council area is among the highest in the State. Workers are being forced out of the sector that they have trained and studied hard to enter and love being part of. This Government clearly has no intentions of cutting the cost of childcare, making it affordable for parents and building much-needed capacity to ensure access in the first place, and has no commitment to early years educators. All the talk before the election was just that.”
“I begin tonight by mentioning Mary Prior, a friend and neighbour who passed away recently. Mary's childcare facility was an institution that supported hundreds of children and their parents in the Springfield area of Tallaght down the decades. Comhbhrón to her husband Oliver and their family. Tonight, we are advocating for parents who are at their wits' end. First, they have to find a childcare place for their child, and then they have to figure out how they are going to afford it. They also have to work out how they are going to get to that childcare place. We are preventing parents from being able to go back to work in too many cases. No parent should have to decide between having a family or staying with their job - not in this day and age.”
“If the EU is to remain as a credible advocate for peace and justice, it must confront the realities of the situation in Palestine and actively support the protection of Palestinian lives and rights. The EU was founded to prevent war not to prepare for it. By leading with diplomacy, justice and humanitarian aid, the EU can be a global example of peaceful leadership. A safer, fairer and inclusive world starts with respecting and protecting the rights of all people. That is the Europe in which Ireland should be a leader and not a follower.”
“In recent years and decades Israel's military actions in Gaza and the West Bank have led to widespread death, displacement and suffering among Palestinians with little or no account from the EU. The Union has repeatedly called for a ceasefire but has failed to take concrete action to curb the violence or hold Israel accountable for breaches of international law. Worse still, the Palestinians are painted as the cause of their own suffering. Meanwhile Palestinians face years of systemic oppression, dispossession and denial of human rights. Now they face ethnic cleansing and genocide. This inaction is morally and politically indefensible. By prioritising trade relations with Israel over human rights, the EU has alienated itself from its core values and lost the trust of both European and global citizens who view its passivity as complicity.”
“This approach not only aligns with the European values of social solidarity, human dignity and democracy, but also offers the best chance of creating a stable, just and peaceful future for us all. The EU has often positioned itself as a global leader on issues of peace and humanitarian aid, but it has lost sight of its founding principles of human rights, democracy and justice. Nowhere is this more plain than in the response to the plight of the Palestinian people. The European Union's credibility has been severely undermined by its failure to effectively aid Palestinians in the face of ongoing violence and genocide. Its response to the Palestinian plight has been one of bland statements and diplomatic posturing rather than meaningful intervention.”
“By prioritising social justice, the EU can address the root causes of social unrest, inequality and exclusion, which are the breeding grounds of conflict and division. Programmes that reduce poverty, increase access to education and ensure fair working conditions create more resilient societies. These are the foundations upon which a lasting peace can be built, not military force or aggressive posturing. Redirecting billions of euro into social programmes such as healthcare, education, affordable housing and clean energy would yield long-term benefits, improve the quality of life for millions of Europeans and reduce the pressures that often lead to radicalisation and conflict. The EU must reject militarisation in favour of social justice.”
“If we lose sight of the objectives that make up the bedrock of the European project, everything that the Community has worked for since the Second World War will have been in vain. Supporting global initiatives aimed at addressing climate change, poverty and inequality will always be far more effective in securing lasting peace than an arms race or military intervention. Militarisation only divides society, creating an "us versus them" mentality, and fuelling racism, nationalism and distrust. The EU should never have been about creating fortress Europe. The Union has a unique role to play as a soft power capable of setting an example for diplomacy, human rights and sustainable development.”
“Sinn Féin is often accused of being Eurosceptic. We often hear that thrown around this Chamber as an insult or a lame response to an alternative voice. We are not Eurosceptic: we believe in a partnership of European nations working towards the advancement of human rights, social justice and democratic values. What we cannot support, and will never support, is a federal militarised Europe that closes its doors to those in need and hides its face from tyranny and oppression. The European Union stands at a crossroads as it grapples with growing global instability and the pressure from the Commission to adopt a more militarised approach to security. Europe cannot turn its focus solely towards militarisation at the expense of social justice, human rights and the pursuit of peace and democracy.”
“In his reply to another question, the Minister spoke of a mobility strategy. At the moment in Tallaght there are 15,000 people waiting for a driver's test. Waiting times can sometimes be over a year. I do not think that is acceptable to anyone. Media reports have indicated that at long last the Road Safety Authority intends to open a new driving test centre in south Dublin. That is something I have called for in this House on many occasions. Is the Minister aware as whether the RSA has identified a site? When can we expect that it would begin conducting driver's tests? There does not seem to be a mobility strategy at the moment and clearly the people of Tallaght are suffering as a result.”
“The Garda want certainty and young people need to be made aware of the dangers they are facing. This gas is not harmless. A temporary high can have very permanent consequences. We should highlight the misuse of this gas and try to get some sort of ban on it.”
“The easy accessibility and low cost of nitrous oxide make it a dangerous substance for misuse, particularly among young people. It is a gateway drug for them, especially young drug users, many of whom are children. Recreational use of nitrous oxide can lead to serious health consequences, including hypoxia, nerve damage and even death. The long-term neurological harm due to the depletion of vitamin B12 can be debilitating. Many young people who huff this gas may be signing up for serious problems later down the line. Regulation, as outlined in this legislation, can help curb the use of this gas, ensuring it is used for legitimate purposes. This is all aimed at protecting public health and reducing the environmental impact we can see so plainly in our communities. This is a real health challenge that has been ignored for too long.”
“I am pleased to co-sponsor this legislation with my colleague Mark Ward. Reduction of the abuse of nitrous oxide is something I have been highlighting and working towards for some years. I introduced legislation to that effect in the previous Dáil. I am glad to have the opportunity to do so again. The abuse of nitrous oxide is something that flies under the radar for many people. It is incredibly common. Many people have seen the rubbish left behind, as Deputy Ward said, especially the large black canisters, but not known what they were. "Where did these things come from?" is what many parents will ask. These canisters litter our green spaces and roadsides. Pressurised canisters can present a hazard to council workers going about their jobs and many volunteers who give up their time to keep communities tidy.”
“In the short term, we must look to safeguard jobs and livelihoods and our all-island economy. In the long term, we have to look beyond corporation tax receipts from a small number of companies as the bedrock of our economic growth.”
“These tariffs may be a temporary obstacle or they could be the first shot in a global trade war. The fundamental issue remains the same, however. Ireland is vulnerable and will remain so until we take steps to diversify our economy. Any failure to do so means that any trade disruption affecting all sectors, whether through tariffs, regulations or other barriers, will always be a risk of disproportionately impacting the overall economy. Should a global trade war ensue, there must be a support scheme ready to be implemented in order to protect thousands of jobs and families. Trips to Washington are all well and good but it has to become clear that the White House has become a law unto itself and the relationship with Irish America is not the safeguard it has been in the past.”
“Trade deals that massively impact on Irish agriculture and elements of the Irish economy, or the establishment of the very worrying investor courts, must not be rushed into as a response to these threats. Successive Governments have used American multinational money like a money tree that would never stop. They built up an over-reliance on corporation tax receipts from a small number of companies while narrowing the tax base through populist income tax cuts. We should be feeding direct strategic investment into domestic industries to reduce dependency on volatile global trade dynamics. These foreign companies should be seen as a bonus not as the foundation of our economy. It is shortsighted and those of us who have said so were deemed doomsayers or accused of not wearing the green jersey.”
“Trumpism is a regressive, destructive force that seeks only instant gratification at the expense of long-term goals and relationships. This level of brinksmanship serves only to enrich a tiny minority of Trump-supporting billionaires at the expense of millions of workers around the world. Those with pension funds will look on in horror as the stock markets flounder and panic. The danger now is that we kowtow to these threats and bully-boy tactics by giving the US unlimited access to our markets at the expense of domestic industries. Irish agriculture in particular could suffer enormously if we open the floodgates to American producers, particularly when combined with the looming impact of Mercosur and its bleak outlook for the Irish farmer. This is not the time for rash actions.”
“Any tariff war that escalates into a broader slowdown in global trade would likely hurt Irish GDP growth. Ireland's economic performance is closely tied to global demand, especially in the EU and US markets. Investor sentiment, exchange rate volatility and reduced business confidence in such a scenario could also lead to capital flight or reduced investment. What we are seeing play out now is the weaponisation of tariffs on a scale never seen before. The damage to Ireland could be catastrophic. Investor flight is one of the key motivations of President Trump's drive for tariffs. The fiction is that the US companies in Ireland are somehow a theft and that squeezing those companies through tariffs might bring them back to the United States.”
“The Irish economy is particularly vulnerable to a tariff war due to its deep reliance on international trade and its unique economic structure, with its heavy reliance on large American multinationals that use us as a springboard into the European Union. A tariff war between the major economic blocs of the US and the EU will disrupt these trade flows, reduce competitiveness and lead to job losses in sectors dominated by foreign direct investment. Ireland's openness to trade, reliance on foreign firms and the integration into global supply chains make it particularly sensitive to the economic shocks caused by tariff wars. Ireland is one small part of the EU and, as the Union moves towards federalism, it has put smaller member states further out on the periphery.”
“There is no doubt that foreign direct investment has been good to Ireland. The pharmaceutical and medical technology sector in particular has been an enormous boon to the economy. This has been supplemented in recent years by the tech sector. High-paying jobs and exports allowed Ireland to progress beyond our small island and become a global economy. The reports overnight that the pharma industry is next in the firing line could spell disaster not only for the economy but for those in treatment here, across Europe and in the US. We could see drugs becoming inaccessible through increased costs, shortages or indeed supply lines being disrupted.”
“If the Government has no intention of introducing excessive use charges, why not support the Sinn Féin Bill and remove the provision from the Water Services Act? Sinn Féin has been clear on the issue. Excessive use charges constitute a pretext for water charges.”
“More than ten years on, Irish Water is still wasting more water than any person ever could. To even discuss excessive use charges when Irish Water states on its website that 37% is lost through leakage is bonkers. The State is seeking to place a burden on householders once again when the State and Irish Water have failed. If the Government were serious about water conservation, it would fund Irish Water properly to accelerate its own leakage reduction programme. Sinn Féin wants leaking water pipes repaired, direct investment in infrastructure and the roll-out of clean water across the State. Householders also want greater clarity regarding who is liable and who is responsible when it comes to ongoing sewage problems near their homes. The council says it is Irish Water and Irish Water says it is the other way round.”
“The anti-water charges movement was one of the largest opposition movements this State witnessed in modern times. Citizens from different backgrounds and of different ages came together, said "No" to this unjust tax and took to the streets in their hundreds and thousands. Even the 2016 Fianna Fáil manifesto committed to abolishing Irish Water and ending water charges. The Government of the day was forced to concede defeat on that occasion and has been biding its time to get water charges in through the back door. Just like on neutrality, Fianna Fáil has become converts to Fine Gael policy when it comes to water charges. We are still losing one third of our treated water straight into the ground because the water infrastructure has not being brought up to scratch.”
“However, it highlights the difference in our level of concern about the two conflicts. The Israeli government is committed to making it impossible for the Palestinian people to maintain a viable homeland. It respects no international laws or norms as it pursues a policy of scorched earth by tearing up all that the Palestinian people have built, homes and businesses included. It is time for the Government to give a strong and unambiguous statement there can be no impunity for Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians and its continued illegal occupation of Palestine.”
“By contrast with the conclusion on Ukraine in particular, the EU has no plan or intention to rein in genocide within touching distance of the Union’s borders. The measures outlined regarding sanctions on Russia are a justified and appropriate response to its illegal invasion of Ukraine, but it could be asked why such measures have not been considered for use against Israel in its war of aggression, which has been going on for almost 80 years. There is a glaring contrast with the call on member states to urgently step up efforts to address Ukraine’s pressing military and defence needs. We will funnel weapons into Ukraine while standing back and shaking our heads when it comes to the Palestinian people. I am not calling for weapons to be sent to Gaza. An arms race between both sides in any conflict only serves to deepen and prolong it.”
“Occupiers must not be allowed to legitimise that occupation through trade, not to mention profiting from it. The occupied territories Bill is not something that can be dangled before the electorate to win votes. If this Government does not immediately move to pass the Bill, it would be cynical in the extreme and worse, it would make us complicit in and party to genocide. Back in 2020 we saw the ramping up of the annexation of the West Bank when President Trump was due to leave office. We have seen a similar increase in aggression now that he has been returned. It falls to Ireland and the wider European community to be a bulwark to crimes against humanity. Toothless conclusions from the Council are not enough. We cannot shrug our shoulders and ask what else we can do.”
“The European Council continues to be entirely impotent when it comes to the genocidal actions of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. The Council's conclusions do not even mention the word "Israel". One would think Israel was not even involved and that it was not the party to have smashed the ceasefire and resumed the bombardment of the Palestinians, and indeed of another sovereign state in Lebanon. Ireland must lead the way when it comes to standing up for human rights and against the vengeful slaughter of more than 50,000 people, many if not most of whom were women and children. There must be a ban on all trade, including services, with Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.”
“A citizens' assembly should be established with a view to bringing a wording for the constitutional amendment to enshrine neutrality in the Constitution so the government of the day may not run roughshod over the opinion that Irish people have expressed over and over again, which is that Ireland should not be a member of this club.”
“All we need to do is to further expand the existing legislative framework to include circumstances such as the rescue of an Irish hostage abroad and repatriation, close protection for Irish officials in conflict zones and drug interdiction in waters just outside Ireland's territorial waters. This way we can strengthen the triple lock rather than overturning it. On the substance of the motion and the calls for a plebiscite, my preference would be to incorporate neutrality into the Constitution. That has been a long-standing policy of Sinn Féin. I cosponsored a Bill on a constitutional referendum to that end in 2013. There are Members on the Government benches today who voted against that legislation then and would surely vote against it now because they do not want Ireland to be a neutral country.”
“Only the staunch resistance of the Irish people to any such move has prevented later Governments from taking the leap. Fine Gael has in the past described neutrality as a sham and has consistently voted in Europe to roll back any obstacle to Ireland's participation in an increasingly militarised Europe, something we were told was only some fringe conspiracy theory during the Lisbon treaty debates. The Government will tell us that the triple lock is too restrictive and prevents the Defence Forces from carrying out their duties to protect the State and the Irish people. This is nothing more than a smokescreen.”
“Sinn Féin supports the motion. It is welcome and timely. We were colonised and know what it is like to struggle for freedom against a foreign invader. The principle of neutrality is a fundamental republican principle and was one of the cornerstones of the foundation of the Irish State. The Irish people set great store in our neutrality. It is a point of pride that our troops have only ever gone abroad to help to quell conflicts and bring an end to war and division. Indeed, Ireland's primary objective internationally should always be to facilitate the resolution of war and conflict. Successive Irish Governments have allowed that principle of neutrality to be eroded. It was Fianna Fáil that signed us up to the Partnership for Peace, seen by many as a stepping stone towards NATO membership.”
“Building fortress Europe and becoming as insular as the US will not make the world, or leave any of us, in a safer place. Ignoring conflicts around the world, in places such as Sudan, Congo and Yemen, will not make the world a safer place. Allowing Israel to complete the Nakba and finally cleanse the Palestinian people from what little lands they have left does not make the world a safer place. If we wish to discuss international security in any meaningful way in this Chamber, we need to see the broader picture of how our actions and, more importantly, inaction impact on the world around us.”