Sharon Keogan
Industrial and Commercial Panel · Independent · Ireland
“The future of European border security is being decided right row at the European Commission. It is currently drafting the renewed mandate of Frontex, the EU border police force. As Ireland holds the rotating EU Presidency, the Minister for justice cannot simply pose as a disinterested broker while our European borders are compromised.”
“Holding the EU Presidency gives this Government massive agenda-setting leverage at the Council of Ministers. The Minister must use this chairing power to strip out counterproductive rights promotion provisions. Under the guise of good intentions, these provisions and their enforcers have defanged and undermined Frontex.”
“I thank the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I appreciate that he will engage with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on this. We live in the land of technology.”
“The Minister, Deputy Calleary, is welcome to the House. I rise to focus the attention of the House on a vital public service that sits at the very heart of social inclusion on this island, the free travel scheme.”
“Sitting down with Stormont to deliver a single unified rule book for free travel means we lift everyone to the same high standards of dignity and mobility, ensuring that a person's vulnerability is not penalised simply because of the jurisdiction they happen to live in.”
“It will point to the senior pass scheme, where a resident here can apply for a separate concessionary card to travel into the North. Let us be completely honest with ourselves.”
The complete record
Every one of 772 lines we hold for Sharon Keogan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 10 of 16.
“I rise with a heavy heart to address two tragedies that have taken place in our nation over the past week. A young man fled war in Ukraine and, within four days, was murdered with unspeakable brutality in Ireland. A girl ran away from a Tusla centre and is, allegedly, raped. What do these two tragedies have in common? They were entirely preventable. They highlight two areas in which our nation has failed totally, utterly and objectively: migration and child safety. What is utterly condemning is that this Government has now received years of warning in both of these areas. For years, I have been trying to raise the issue of children who go missing from Tusla and, for years, communities have raised their fears about the presence of IPA centres in communities such as Citywest, where the rape took place.”
“I move amendment No. 8: 8. In page 7, after line 32, to insert the following: “Serious harm threshold for natural persons 7. (1) The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 12: “12A. A statement concerning a natural person shall not be considered defamatory unless its publication has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm to the reputation of that person.”. (2) The amendment effected by subsection (1) shall apply only to causes of action accruing on or after the date of the coming into operation of this section.””
“Before we can discuss proscribing or even restricting this organisation and its affiliates, we must know the truth and currently we are operating blind. I therefore call on the Government and the Minister for justice to initiate a full investigation into the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Ireland. We cannot afford to be naive. The safety, cohesion and even the sovereignty of our republic depends on it.”
“What appears to be a management dispute bears the hallmarks of a struggle between a leadership accused of brotherhood ties and their financial backers from the United Arab Emirates, which banned the organisation in 2013 following accusations of a coup plot. Indeed, the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council has raised concerns about brotherhood ties at Clonskeagh. Let me be clear that this is not about religion. This is about transparency, governance and the ideological influence of a movement that has been banned in many eastern countries, most recently Jordan where it was outlawed following a sabotage plot. Across Europe it is heavily restricted and monitored, yet here in Ireland we face the serious danger that our Government has allowed this ideological network to flourish unchecked.”
“Before I begin my speech today, I would like to first send my congratulations to President Trump for the successful ceasefire in Gaza and this week's peace summit in Egypt. There is a long way to go in this peace process, but I hope everyone will join me in expressing our support for its success and for bringing an end to the horrendous suffering caused by this war. I wish to call for a discussion on what appears to be a concerning footprint of the Muslim Brotherhood in our nation and, even more worrying, the failure of our Government to acknowledge it, let alone address it. The cause of my concern was last spring's closure of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland at Clonskeagh.”
“Let us pass a Bill we can be proud of, one that protects both the right to one's good name and the right to speak truth to power.”
“It is not fairness and it is not efficiency. Amendment No. 8 is not radical, partisan or punitive. It is a practical reform that aligns with best practice in England, Wales, Australia and other common law jurisdictions. It is a reform that will help to reduce the burden on our courts, protect freedom of expression and ensure defamation law serves its true purpose to vindicate reputations that have been genuinely harmed, not to chill public discourse or intimidate critics. I urge the Minister and my colleagues in the House to consider the amendment in that spirit. Let us not miss this opportunity to make a meaningful change. Let us not pass a Bill that tinkers at the edges while leaving the core problem untouched.”
“It seeks to introduce a serious harm threshold for individuals bringing defamation cases, mirroring the standard already proposed in the Bill for corporate bodies. It is a modest, proportionate and internationally recognised safeguard. It does not abolish the right to sue for defamation; it simply ensures the courts are not used to pursue trivial, vexatious or strategic claims that are not about restoring reputation but about silencing criticism. If we are serious about making defamation laws fairer and more efficient, as the Government claims it is, we must be willing to apply the same standard of seriousness to all plaintiffs, not just corporations. It is not credible to say that a small company must prove serious harm but a wealthy individual need not do so. That is not equality before the law.”
“Free legal aid is granted for defamation cases only in extremely rare circumstances. For the vast majority of Irish people, their right to free expression is not balanced against their right to a good name because the former right is not effectively actionable. Indeed, many people have neither right. They can afford neither to accuse another person of defamation nor to be accused of it. I propose that we correct this by combating the suppressive and trivial defamation claims that are freezing free discourse in our society and acknowledging that the balance of rights is unbalanced and must be adjusted accordingly. That brings me to the core of amendment No. 8 which I am proposing today.”
“As Members of the Opposition, we have potential whistleblowers coming to us on a regular basis. For every one who is protected by defamation laws, there are at least ten others who back out, keep their heads down and keep silent for fear of those same laws. This is what is meant when people say defamation law has a chilling effect on our nation's public discourse. One can speak of the rights of the defamed but let me clear on another point. These rights do not exist de facto for the majority of our population. Defamation cases usually cost between €20,000 and €50,000 when taken to the Circuit Court and can fly high into six figures when taken to the High Court. The vast majority of our population do not have money in the five figures floating around in their back pocket.”
“Why is he proceeding to push it through our Houses when it is clear we will be back here in a few years? I initially intended to argue that his legal career left him with a tendency to overly concentrate on abstract legal principles, but last week I recall him putting forward the argument to my colleague Senator McDowell that we in the Oireachtas change laws because we can. I assume he acknowledges that laws and their principles are not perfect or inviable and require regular alteration for the common good. In fact, that is arguably the entire reason we are sitting here today in this elected Legislature. On Second Stage, the Minister made good arguments in favour of the individual's right to a good name. He gave the important example of the Maurice McCabe case. Let me be clear in making the following point.”
“While I would not question the Minister's integrity, and have seen nothing that would indicate improper conduct on his part, it is my duty as a public representative to act in the public interest and to put his judgment into question, which is the real essence of my concern, although I acknowledge I must do it in better and more precise language. As a Senator for the industrial and commercial panel, I have received serious outreach from people and their civil society representatives, as well as from society more broadly, especially the press. Almost all of them tell me that this Bill, as it stands, will effectively change nothing. When the system is broken, the status quo means things will only get worse. While I acknowledge the Minister did not draft the Bill, I am forced to ask why the Minister is standing over it.”
“I acknowledge that I used strong language in asking it, that it reflected fairly neither the Minister's character nor the nature of my concern and I would like to apologise, for the record, about the offence caused. I hold the Minister and his integrity in high esteem as a person, as a professional and as a politician. I have praised his appointment and welcomed his appointment in this Chamber many times. I hope I am not going to jinx him, but I look forward to seeing him as leader of Fianna Fáil in the near future. However, I am still a member of the Opposition.”
“Would we say people lack this right in England, Canada or Australia? No, we would not, so why would we curtail it here in this Republic? This amendment and my others, which I will get to in time, are about rebalancing these rights in favour of the right to free expression and the right to speak and inquire in the public interest. By extension, it is about ensuring that within free public discourse we are able to achieve the end of holding one another to account without fear of grievous repercussions. We had a heated discussion in this Chamber a few months ago, which I would like to address respectfully as it is relevant to my argument. I asked if there was any conflict of interest.”
“I, and many others, believe it is evident that defamation is out of control in this country. If the statistics and estimates are to be believed, we have twice as many defamation cases in our nation as in England and Wales. That is not per person. That is in total. Let that sink in. We have twice as many cases as a state that has more than ten times our population. We need to think of how that impacts the workload of our courts, which we all know are facing enormous backlogs in cases both criminal and civil. We need to reduce this backlog where we can, and here we have severely outdated defamation laws, whose antiquatedness is a cause of the caseload. Still, we are not putting in the necessary updates. A serious harm test is not curtailing of people's rights to their reputation.”
“There are a number of international best practices in defamation law, and the best of them at present in either current Irish law, or they are barely present in this Bill. To this end, I bring forward a number of amendments, which I hope will correct this. The first is to introduce a serious harm test for individuals who seek to bring a defamation case to court. We are perhaps the only common law country on Earth that does not impose tests, either serious harm or malicious intent in the case of the United States on plaintiffs. This desperately needs to change. This is not a theoretical debate. Ireland does not exist in a legal vacuum, and the law does not exist in a vacuum from society. We can look at how laws differ in other nations and how those laws impact their societies. We can compare them with our own laws and our society.”
“I speak to my first sole amendment, which is amendment No. 8. This Bill comes to the Chamber with a number of stated purposes, but they are best summarised in plain English as making defamation law fairer and more efficient. This is driven by the fact that there is simply too much defamation litigation in Ireland. I do not believe anyone in government or opposition will contest this. This purpose carries the acknowledgement that defamation law, as it is in Ireland, is not really fair or efficient and this is to be rectified by this Bill. However, there is a big gap between the intent and purpose of the Bill and what it will achieve. It is my belief, and that of many in this Chamber and of far too many in civil society organisations, that it will achieve very little.”
“Victims include women, children and the elderly. This is not random violence; it is targeted, systemic and ideologically driven. Groups like Boko Haram and other militia are waging war on Christianity in Nigeria. Priests are being kidnapped, churches burned and entire communities erased from the map, yet the international response has been muted. I echo the calls made in Westminster for the UK and the EU to prioritise freedom of religion or belief in foreign policy. I call on the Government to likewise hold perpetrators accountable through sanctions and diplomatic pressure. Let us not be silent. Silence is complicity. I call on this House to condemn these atrocities, to stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians and to ensure that Ireland's voice is heard on the global stage in defence of religious freedom.”
“I rise today to speak on a matter of grave urgency and moral clarity. I refer to the modern persecution of Christians, in particular in Nigeria, which has reached levels that many experts now describe as genocidal. According to the World Watch List 2024, more than 365 million Christians worldwide faced high levels of persecution, and nowhere was this crisis more acute than in Nigeria. In 2023, of the 5,000 Christians who were killed for their faith worldwide, 90% were killed in Nigeria. This year, the situation has worsened. Reports reveal that 7,087 Christians have been massacred in Nigeria in 2025. That is 32 killed every single day for their faith. More than 19,000 churches have been destroyed since 2009 and millions have been displaced. This year, a massacre in the town of Yelwata saw 200 Christians slaughtered overnight by jihadists.”
“However, I am really concerned about the €2 billion that has been allocated for it because the Government has said that it will be establishing a dedicated State delivery body for the MetroLink. I do not want that €2 billion to be eaten up. I hope they set out some parameters in relation to how they are going to spend that money and just get on with building it. Well done to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, and the Government for putting this project on the books to get done.”
“I certainly hope that those who have caused all these killings and genocide will reflect on what they have done, no matter what God or prophet they follow. It is absolutely horrific what the people of Palestine and those experiencing genocides throughout the world are going through. Whether it is taking place in Sudan, the Congo, or elsewhere, they are too numerous to mention. I want to thank the Government for something else. The MetroLink railway order came this morning. It is absolutely a fantastic piece of infrastructure that this country has been looking for for the past 25 years. I think it was first mooted in 2001. It was announced this morning and will be 19 km in length and will run from Swords to Dublin’s city centre.”
“I too want to be associated with the comments relating to Senator Chris Andrews and our Independent colleague in the Dáil, Deputy Barry Heneghan, who is also on one of the flotillas as well. It says a lot about the character of the people who go on these missions. It shows us who they are as individuals and activists. They are willing to go to whatever lengths it takes to try to do something in this madness. Today and yesterday are very holy days in Israel, believe it or not. All of the Jewish people celebrate Yom Kippur. They are among the holiest days in their calendar. They are days of atonement and take place over yesterday and today. It says in Leviticus, "For on this day, He will forgive you to purify you and you will be cleansed for all your sins before God".”
“We are at a crisis point, yet the Government's own tourism Department is failing to provide a timeline for returning these hotels to public use. I call on the Minister for tourism to explain how he intends to reverse this decline. We need pro-tourism and pro-enterprise policies, not more red tape and short-term fixes.”
“The historic NFL game at Croke Park, intended as a showcase of Irish hospitality, is now a global embarrassment. An Garda Síochána has yet to receive a formal complaint, but the damage to our image is done. Let us not ignore the elephant in the room, which is the transformation of hundreds of hotels into international protection accommodation centres. Over 116 hotels and counting are now off the market, removing vital bed space from the tourism economy. Fáilte Ireland estimates this has cost the Irish economy up to €1.1 billion. We have replaced revenue streams with bottomless pits for taxpayers' money. Tourism numbers are falling. January and February saw a drop of between 25% and 30% in the number of foreign visitors.”
“Today I speak about the steady decline of our tourist sector caused by misguided Government policy. We are witnessing the over-regulation of our small and medium enterprises, particularly bed-and-breakfast accommodation which is being strangled by bureaucracy and compliance burdens. These are the backbone of rural tourism, yet they are being treated like multinational chains. It is no wonder that many are closing their doors. Accommodation costs in Ireland have spiralled out of control. Visitors are being charged extortionate rates and value for money is plummeting. Fáilte Ireland's own reports show that demand continues to outstrip supply, driving up prices and damaging our reputation. And what of law and order? Just last week, a player from the Pittsburgh Steelers was jumped and robbed in Dublin.”
“Let them do the job they were elected to do, because right now the only thing being built is bureaucracy and the only thing being housed is failure.”
“Yet the Government pats itself on the back, while tenants live in damp and unsafe conditions. While we are at it, let us talk about rental arrears. Even when tenants are struggling, the Government still expects local authorities to chase payments without giving them the tools to do so. In some counties, rent collection rates have dropped as low as 72%, yet there is no national strategy, no targeted support and no urgency. The problem is clear. The Government neither allocates the resources nor delegates the powers that local authorities need. Instead it centralises control, ties the hands of councillors and expects miracles from underfunded and overstretched teams. Enough is enough. It time to give our councils the funding, autonomy and respect they deserve.”
“I wish to address the findings of the latest NOAC report. While there are many causes to be optimistic with this good report, I feel it is necessary, considering we are in the midst of a housing crisis, to highlight some of the more alarming findings. Let us look at the facts. Over 4,251 social housing units sat vacant at the end of 2024. Meanwhile, families are sleeping in cars, in emergency accommodation, or couch surfing, with no end in sight. The average re-letting time for these houses is between 35 and 56 weeks, the longest in over a decade. As for the cost, a staggering €105 million was spent to re-let just 3,375 units. That is just €31,000 per home and it is not just inefficient, it is disgraceful. In addition, 84.86% of inspected private rentals failed to meet basic standards. In some counties, over 99% were non-compliant.”
“Beyond investigation, we must act. Case closure protocols must be tightened. Data sharing between Tusla, schools, health services and the Department of Social Protection must be strengthened. A statutory mechanism for the independent review of child deaths and disappearances must be established. Re-examining pandemic case closures is a good start but we must go further to ensure no child has been left invisible. Without this transparency and these reforms, the public cannot have confidence in the child protection system. Families cannot trust that their children will be safeguarded. The House must press for answers. Tusla must provide the figures and the Minister must ensure that every child is treated as with the highest priority, not as a line in a closed file. Daniel's case must be the last time a child disappears in silence.”
“The tragic case of young Daniel Aruebose has shaken the nation. A little boy, once in Tusla's care, vanished from sight for years without anyone raising the alarm. Only when a welfare irregularity was noticed did questions emerge, far too late. This is not simply an individual tragedy, it is a systemic failure. Tusla had Daniel on its radar and engaged with his family, and then closed the case in 2020. From then on, no one in the State noticed he was not in school, not attending health services and not visible in the community. The question we must ask is how many other children once known to Tusla have slipped through the cracks in this way. Today I call for a full investigation into Tusla's record. We must establish year by year how many children known to Tusla have been reported missing, and how many have remained unaccounted for.”
“Unlike our leaders, many of those protesting or criticising the Government's current open border migration policy understand the distinction between individual immigrants, who deserve respect and judgment based on their character, and mass migration as a Government policy, which should be debated openly for its impact on our society, social services and national identity. Colleagues, this is a moment for courage, for leadership and for truth. If we continue down this road we will lose more of our young people, deepening the housing crisis and fracturing the social fabric of this country. I will not stand by and watch this happen, and I ask you, "Will you?"”
“The irony is that this immature approach risks polarising society, surrendering the debate to extremists and, ultimately, makes such claims self-fulfilling. I genuinely wonder whether many of our politicians believe what they are saying. If they do, it shows a complete failure to speak to or listen to their constituents. Of course I cannot speak for everyone, but the vast majority of Irish people protesting against mass migration whom I have spoken to hold little or no hatred for immigrants nor for people with different faiths, skin colour or backgrounds. In fact, many are themselves of immigrant background or have immigrant friends and partners.”
“We need to pause mass migration, reassess our capacity and build a system that works for everyone, not just for the few who profit from it. Unfortunately, I am not hopeful because when our own Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, stands up in front of the national media and claims that the statement "Ireland for the Irish" - something that many of our nation's founders, and the founders of the Fianna Fáil Party, would have thought simple common sense - is tantamount to violence then we see the depth of our leadership's inability and unwillingness to deal with this crisis. To make things worse, anyone who attempts to raise the issue of migration is a matter for public debate and labelled far right.”
“What about the pensioner who cannot afford rent? What about the Irish couple who have been priced out of their home town? What about the nurse commuting two hours because there is nowhere affordable to live near the hospital? This is not sustainable or compassionate; this is insane. Ireland's tradition is compassion married with common sense. Compassion without capacity collapses into crisis. Common sense without compassion becomes cold. Today, we need both. We need fair admissions, firm limits and a laser focus on building enough homes. Anything less is not progressive, not conservative, but simply irresponsible. We need to return to a policy that puts Ireland and our national well-being first, that puts the Irish worker first and puts our communities first. If we are in crisis then we have absolutely no capacity to help others.”
“Then, the same Government turns around and says, "We need to take in over 140,000 new arrivals because we do not have the workers." We did have the workers but certain elements in this country did not want to pay them the wages they needed, and other elements wanted tenants whom they could charge higher rents. That is the truth. That is the rot at the heart of this policy. Where is the Opposition in all of this? Where are the voices defending the Irish worker? The left, who once stood for the working man and woman, have become the most energetic proponents of mass migration. They have abandoned the Irish worker, the Irish family and the Irish community. They offer no real opposition, no scrutiny and no solutions. We are told that this is about compassion. What about compassion for the people who already live here?”
“It affects every Irish family trying to find a roof over their heads. It affects every emigrant missing home and wondering if they will ever come back. While we are importing people, we are exporting our own. In the same year, 34,700 Irish citizens left the country. That is the highest level of emigration in a decade. It is not just any 100,000; it is 103,000 of our best and brightest now living in Australia alone. That is more than the population of Limerick city. Overwhelmingly, these are young, working-age Irish people in the prime of their lives who have been forced to go to the other side of the earth, away from their homes and families, because this Government has rendered their country unlivable.”
“The maths do not add up. The policy does not add up. I have said previously that we are an island nation with only two major airports. Enforcing our border and operating a stricter migration policy could and should be simple. It appears that no one in the Government is willing to do the right thing. Why is this? It is because it is a hard decision. The right policy would mean that some unfortunate people would have to be turned away. Making hard decisions for the sake of the common good is the essence of politics and of political power. It is exactly what we have been elected to do. If you cannot bear hard decisions, then step down and return to civilian life. This is not some student council or local book club committee. This is the Oireachtas and what we say and do here affects all our lives.”
“We keep hearing that Ireland is a small country with big ambitions but ambition without honesty is just spin. On immigration and housing, honesty means admitting a simple arithmetic truth. The volume of arrivals year after year is colliding with a housing system that is barely delivering the homes we need. Let me be absolutely clear: Ireland is in the midst of a housing crisis that is physically impossible to fix under the current immigration policy. In the year to April 2024, 149,200 people immigrated to Ireland. This was the highest number in 17 years. This was not a one-off. It was the third year in a row that more than 100,000 people arrived. Let us look at housing. Between 2016 and 2022 just 93,128 dwellings were built. This was over six years. We are bringing in more people annually than we are building homes in half a decade.”
“Those who think they have won today by their partisan tactics will be sorely mistaken. In the long run, this illiberal party and ideological chauvinism will make our society more toxic, bitter and divided, and then we will all lose.”
“Many others have sadly followed suit, ensuring that only their chosen candidate can make it onto the ballot. This partisanship is not only on the basis of party. It is also following the line of ideology. In the county councils' nominations, while many of the councillors were professional and thorough in their questions, others showed an alarming level of hostility and venom towards candidates whose views differed from their own. We sadly saw the same across our mainstream media. If we truly believe in democracy, then we must either reform this process or reform ourselves. We must open the doors of Áras an Uachtaráin to all who wish to serve, not just those with the blessing of party headquarters. The Irish people deserve a real choice, not a coronation by the political establishment.”
“I rise with a deep sense of frustration and disappointment at the state of our so-called democracy. The current nomination process for the Irish presidential election has become nothing short of a closed shop, a club for the political elite where the will of the people is secondary to the interests of party machines. Let us call it what it is - a partisan stitch-up. The directives from the Tánaiste, Simon Harris, instructing Fine Gael councillors to block the nomination of any independent presidential candidates is a blatant abuse of party power. It is an insult to the very principles of democracy and pluralism that we are supposed to uphold. When party leaders whip their councillors to toe the line, they are not just shutting out independent voices, they are shutting out the Irish people. This is not just a Fine Gael problem.”
“It felt like the Government was just publishing this important data due to the statutory obligations but hoped it would receive as little public attention and scrutiny as possible. The revelation of 10,852 abortions last year has not received the proper attention it deserves. This should generate a national debate about our current abortion policy and raises questions about how the Government can try to reduce the spiralling abortion rate.”
“We also need to ensure that a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy and considering her options is truly given her options, including information about social welfare entitlements, parent support and adoption. I draw attention to the fact that the Department of Health issued a publication on its website late on Friday evening with no known associated press release. This meant that the news of the sky-high abortion figures did not receive much media attention and swiftly fell out of the news cycle. I am doubtful that this was just a coincidence. Under the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018, the Minister is required to issue a report of the previous year's abortion notifications, which is to be prepared by 30 June.”
“Last Friday evening, the Department of Health published its report on the number of abortion notifications received for 2024. The figure, totalling 10,852, is the highest yet on record. It represents a 63% increase in the abortion rate in 2024 by contrast with 2019, when 6,666 abortion notifications were received. To put it more starkly, newly released data means that at least one in six pregnancies were aborted, excluding miscarriages. This is a harrowing statistic and something we should all reflect on. It underlines the need for serious action by the Government to address the abortion rate, which continues to soar to horrifying new heights annually. More supports are needed for women in unplanned pregnancies to ensure no woman feels like she has no choice but to have an abortion.”
“Participation in grassroots sports and exercise is a right for young girls, not to mention a lifeblood of our communal life. Grassroots sports lead to elite sports. Girls, even very talented ones, will leave if they face unfairness. Women and girls at all levels deserve fairness.”
“These advantages increase men's ability not only to cause injury but also to avoid injury. Testosterone suppression does not erase these advantages. The science is clear but the silence is political. Let us not forget privacy and safeguarding. Girls deserve female-only coaches, changing rooms and toilets. Mixed-sex facilities increase the risk for women and children. Research in the UK shows 90% of complaints of sexual assaults and voyeurism in changing rooms related to unisex facilities. This is not an opinion; it is a fact. The Women's Rights Network has documented it in detail. I want to be clear about something else. This is not just about elite and professional sport. Arguably, women and girls in grassroots sports need protection most of all.”
“They will simply walk away and self-exclude. We will lose them from sport not because they are not good enough but because we failed to protect them. The Sport Ireland guidance document, recent polling by the Sunday Independent and polling by the pro-LGBT organisations all show the vast majority of Irish people, particularly those involved in sport, support the protection of the female category. Why is the Government ignoring them? Let us be honest. This debate has been hijacked and reframed as a question of trans inclusion. In fact, this is not about identity. It is about biology. All females, regardless of identity, belong in female sport, and no males do. The physical advantages of males, including greater muscle mass, bone density and lung capacity, are measurable before puberty and increase dramatically after it.”
“It has not been challenged, because it is legal. Let me repeat that. It is legal in Ireland to exclude males from female sports. While it is not illegal to include them, it is unfair, unsafe and immoral. We need statutory guidance; not vague suggestions but clear, robust direction from the Government. Our sporting bodies must know what they are not only allowed but expected to do to protect the female category. If the Government were serious about women in sport, it would link funding to that protection. If there is no such policy, there will be no funding. It is that simple. Otherwise, all the talk about encouraging girls to stay in sport and tackling dropout from sport by teenage girls is meaningless. Studies from UK groups have shown that when forced into competing against biological males, girls will not kick up a fuss.”
“The Countess, a pro-women's advocacy group, has received credible confidential reports of both of these incidents I just mentioned, as well as younger boys participating in schools and underage girls sports such as volleyball, camogie and Gaelic football. These are not isolated incidents, they are part of a growing trend. The silence from our sporting authorities is deafening. Why is that? It is because our national governing bodies are afraid of litigation from gender-ideology activists. They are afraid of being labelled. They are also afraid of standing up for women and girls. Fear is not policy and cowardice is not leadership. One body has shown courage, namely, the IRFU. It has a clear policy - being a female at birth is the criterion for playing in women's and girls' rugby. The IRFU made that decision based on fairness and safety.”
“I rise today to speak not just about sport but about truth, fairness and the rights of women and girls in Ireland. We hear a lot from the Government about promoting women in sport. We hear about funding, campaigns and slogans but when it comes to the most basic principle of fairness, ensuring that women's sport is for women, this Government is silent. What is worse is that it is complicit in the erosion of women's sports by refusing to act. Let me be clear: women's sport must be for biological females only. This is not a radical statement, it is common sense, it is fair and it is safe. We now have evidence of males competing in women's pool competitions in Ireland, of men entering ladies' masters golf tournaments and even playing in LGFA matches.”