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.”
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“Here in Ireland these discussions are shut down before they even begin. Instead of strengthening our domestic capacity, the Government has actively dismantled what little resilience we had. Our peat harvesting industry, which once sustained communities and could have served as a carefully managed transitional resource, has been shuttered without a viable replacement. Families, workers and entire regions were left behind in this decision. To make matters worse, the taxes and charges placed on fuel and energy, from carbon levies to VAT to excise, remain untouched. They are not being reduced or reconsidered. In the real world they compound the pressures now facing households, hauliers, farmers and small businesses. They turn an international crisis into a domestic burden shouldered by the very people least able to absorb it.”
“This week, the world has been shaken by the escalating conflict in the Gulf involving Iran, a conflict that will drive prices sharply upwards. Once again, Ireland stands exposed. Why is this? It is because we are nowhere near prepared for this reality. This is not simply an external crisis but a mirror held up to our own failings at home. For years, warnings have been sounded about Ireland's vulnerability to global energy shocks but successive governments have chosen a path that leaves us more exposed and not less. We have enormous natural gas resources lying untapped off our own shores. We have not even had a conversation about whether technology such as nuclear power could play a role in securing our long-term energy independence. These are not fringe ideas. They are part of mainstream energy planning throughout Europe.”
“This is something that has been called electoral interference by the US House Judiciary Committee. What safeguards exist to make sure lawful Irish political dissent, including criticism of migration policy and other uncomfortable issues, is not algorithmically suppressed under DSA compliance pressure? Did our MEPs assess the sovereignty implications of shifting tech supervision from Dublin to Brussels?”
“Regarding the recognition of trans women as women, can the MEPs explain what legal assessments have been carried out on the implications relating to member states whose equality, healthcare, sports, education and other frameworks rely on sex-based categories? Do they accept that enforcing recognition at EU level may breach the principle of subsidiarity by overriding national competence on how sex and gender are defined in law? You cannot promise one thing during referendums and deliver the opposite when in Brussels. On the Digital Services Act, Ireland hosts the European head quarters of all major platforms now under the Commission’s oversight. Across Europe, we have seen political content branded as systemic risk or disinformation. We have seen elections cancelled. I spoke about this issue last week.”
“Do they support labour mobility being written into trade packages, "Yes" or "No", because they cannot tell the Irish people migration is being restricted while supporting expanded inflows in Brussels? My second point concerns the recent resolution to respectively enshrine abortion as an EU fundamental right and to emphasise the full recognition of trans women as women. Regarding the former, Irish voters were repeatedly assured in the referenda on the Lisbon and Nice treaties and previous referenda that abortion would remain a national competence yet the proposed initial initiative would embed abortion access within EU-level rights architecture, so I ask the MEPs whether they accept that this contradicts what Irish voters were told?”
“I thank the MEPs for coming in here this afternoon. Time is short so I will jump right in. Regarding the EU-India trade and mobility negotiations, Ireland's Indian population rose from 59,600 to 70,000 in a single year and is on track to become the largest foreign national group in the State. As this is happening while governments claim migration is being tightened, I ask our MEPs, particularly Mr. Kelly and Mr. Kelleher because they sit on the industry, research and energy and the economic and monetary affairs committees, whether any of them raised concerns about the demographic impact on our infrastructure and social services of these mobility concessions in the EU-India deal?”
“At a time when household finances are stretched and debt vulnerability is rising, these safeguards are essential, yet despite the clear deadline of November 2025, Ireland has not yet advanced the necessary legislation. We have held a public consultation but public consultation alone does not protect consumers. The Commission's intervention sends a very clear signal: Ireland is falling behind and consumers are left exposed in the meantime. This also carries financial risks if delays continue and infringement proceedings escalate further. I ask that the responsible Minister come before this House to explain the reasons for the delay, set out the Government's plan for full and timely implementation and clarify when Irish consumers can expect these protections to be enshrined in law.”
“I raise a matter of growing concern relating to consumer protection and Ireland's obligation under EU law. In recent weeks, the European Commission has issued Ireland with a formal notice for failing to transpose the updated consumer credit directive, which is the legislation designed to protect individuals from unfair lending practices, hidden charges and the risks posed by new digital moneylending and credit products. Most Members know that I am far from being uncritical of EU directives and how the Government often unquestioningly signs to up and applies them, yet here we have a directive that actually looks to do some good for consumers and the Government has done nothing. The directive expands protections for ordinary consumers taking out loans, using online credit or engaging with so-called "buy now, pay later" schemes.”
“I ask that the Minister appear before the House to outline how Government intends to respond to these mounting pressures, what engagement is under way with the sector, and whether further supports or regulatory adjustments are being considered to safeguard an industry that underpins every part of our economy.”
“Measures long sought by the sector, including enhanced fuel rebates and relief on toll costs, were largely omitted. Many operators now fear that the narrow margins and collective cost burdens are pushing smaller hauliers out of business entirely, with knock-on consequences for supply chains, fuel distribution and rural competitiveness. We have already seen signs of fragility within the broader logistics network, including the recent collapse of Fastway couriers, resulting in significant job losses and major disruptions. Hauliers also face growing regulatory challenges, particularly around the transport of heavy or abnormal loads, where proposed new permitted rules could add delays and hinder national energy and infrastructure delivery.”
“I welcome to the Gallery Dr. Eoin Lenihan, author of Vandalising Ireland , a book on how the Government, NGOs, academia and media are engineering a new globalist Ireland. I wish to raise the escalating pressures facing the Irish haulage and transport sector. Pressures are now reaching a point where many operators describe themselves as no longer viable. Over recent months, hauliers have warned that rising fuel taxes, increased road and bridge tolls and new levies introduced since January are placing unsustainable burdens on the industry that is fundamental to our economy, especially to rural Ireland, where alternatives to road transport simply do not exist. Despite repeated engagement by organisations such as the Irish Road Haulage Association, budget 2026 offered the bare minimum of support.”
“I hope he sticks to his word and brings that help to the Iranian people because they are crying out for it on the streets of Iran.”
“I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate that the Foreign Affairs Council is working through the sanctions that will be introduced and that it takes times. However, while I speak and representatives of the US and the Islamic regime are in Geneva, people are being shot for protesting on the streets of Abdanan in Iran. The IRGC is a terrorist organisation and the Iranian Government is a terrorist government. It must be replaced immediately. The IRGC has tentacles that stretch into Gaza with Hamas, into Lebanon with the Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen and in Syria with Bashar al-Assad. These guys know nothing about diplomacy. All they know is the barrel of a gun. That is their diplomacy so the sooner they are replaced, the better. I am really disappointed with President Trump. He told the people of Iran that help was on its way.”
“While we do not have publicly reported IRGC activity in Ireland, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Europol has warned for years of IRGC extraterritorial activities. Other EU states have uncovered plots, surveillance operations and targeted threats on their soil. Have we examined whether similar risks exist here? Have our security services issued guidance, undertaken reviews or strengthened monitoring? Finally, will Ireland support, advocate for or implement further EU-level or domestic measures arising from this designation? The time for ambiguity has passed. The Irish people deserve clarity, Iranian dissidents deserve solidarity and the international community deserves a partner, not a bystander.”
“Listing the IRGC is not merely about words on paper, it carries operational consequences such as asset freezes and criminalisation of material support. Ireland cannot simply hope someone else enforces these measures. We must know whether our own financial systems, regulators and law enforcement agencies are prepared to implement them in full. Third, what does this mean for Ireland’s diplomatic engagement? We maintain relations with Tehran and host diplomatic staff, but the IRGC is deeply integrated into the Iranian state apparatus. Where does that leave us? What risk assessments have been completed? What measures are being taken to ensure Ireland is not a soft entry point for influence operations, intimidation of dissidents or the misuse of diplomatic cover? Fourth, what assessment has been taken regarding national security?”
“I rise to seek clarity from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade regarding the Government’s response to the European Parliament’s recent designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. This decision reflects serious concerns about the IRGC’s role in repression in Iran and its activities beyond the country's borders. Given the gravity of that assessment, it is important for this House to understand Ireland’s considered position. First, what assessment has the Department undertaken on the implications for Ireland’s foreign policy position? Do we continue with diplomacy as usual, even as the EU identifies a core organ of the Iranian state as a terrorist entity? Second, what assessment has been carried out on the implications for Ireland’s sanctions regime?”
“When Britain and other nations see resignations at the highest levels of government over Epstein-linked associations, Ireland cannot simply shrink its shoulders. We must protect our own institutions, our own reputation and, most importantly, our own people. That is why I call today for the formation of either an Oireachtas investigative committee or a Garda inquiry, or both, to examine the full set of Epstein emails for any Irish connections. This is not to sensationalise or point fingers but to ensure that if any links touch our jurisdiction, our politics, our nation, our agencies or our vulnerable citizens, they are brought to light. Ireland cannot afford to look the other way when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein.”
“There are also emails outlining business discussions between Epstein and his associates concerning Irish businesses, including discussions about a $10 billion Allied Irish Banks' US property portfolio. There were also discussions about involving Mandelson himself in Irish-linked business ventures. There is also the far more disturbing Irish angle because among the released files are references to women trafficked into Ireland. There is one email where a correspondent asks Epstein, “Are you going to send me names and numbers of people to play with in Ireland?” There is one email from a woman claiming to have been trafficked to Ireland at the age of 13, which the Garda announced yesterday that it was not going to investigate. That is absolutely disgraceful. This is not the time for silence or handwringing; this is the time for action.”
“At the centre of the resulting political firestorm is Morgan McSweeney, an Irish-born aide to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, not because he had dealings with Epstein, at least that we know of, but because he was the one who pushed for Mandelson’s appointment to one of the most important diplomatic roles in the British state. I understand that this is a tangential connection but when the Epstein files show the scale of corrupt interpersonal networks operating informally across borders, we would be fools not to pay attention, especially when, separately, his father’s firm was paid €6.9 million by this State to house asylum seekers. No wrongdoing is alleged but the public deserves reassurance, not coincidence layered upon coincidence.”
“The ambassador is very welcome. I thank him and the people from Lithuania for what they have contributed to our economy and society over the past 15 to 20 years. Today, I rise to address the revelations emerging from the recently released Epstein emails that should concern every democracy, including our own. It would be dangerously naïve to assume that the political fallout happening across the water has no bearing on Ireland. We now know that Peter Mandelson, a senior political figure in Britain, maintained contact with Jeffrey Epstein even after his conviction, passing sensitive information and sustaining a relationship far deeper than previously admitted.”
“Ireland’s elections belong to the Irish people, not the EU regulators, not the ideologically aligned NGOs and not the Commission bureaucrats, who believe they can curate political speech for an entire Continent.”
“Germany labelled calls to deport criminal offenders as incitement to hatred and pushed for a deletion. This is not moderation. It is the silencing of one side of a political debate. The Digital Services Act guidelines further demand that platforms alter algorithms, suppress disinformation and limit generative AI political content during election periods, rules that applied here not once but twice in 2024 and 2025 for our candidates and voters. Who decides what counts as harmful for Irish people to hear? It is not the Irish electorate and it is not this Oireachtas. It is unelected officials in Brussels who have shown that they are more than willing to censor speech that is subjectively deemed unacceptable, whether it is on gender, migration, energy or public safety. Democracy cannot function when one side of the debate is muzzled.”
“I rise today with a deep sense of outrage. I am not concerned or irritated, but outraged at the steady interference of the European Union in democratic elections, including our own. In the recent report on communications between big tech and the European Commission subpoenaed by the US Congress, the facts are clearly documented. Ahead of the 2023 election in Slovakia, TikTok, under EU pressure, censored statements such as "There are only two genders" and “We need to stop the sexualization of young people". These are mainstream political positions yet the EU machinery branded them hate speech. That is ideological policing. The patterns repeat. In Poland, regulators sought the removal of a post stating that electric cars are neither ecological nor economical, which is a simple policy view.”
“The Government has a significant role to play here, and I am delighted to see Katelyn here today to champion women in apprenticeships. Many young people around this country are doing so well in apprenticeships. One young man in my town did the junior certificate, got a great result in maths and then left school, as a number of people did at the time, qualified. Now, at 22 years of age, he has bought a house. He left school at 16. I want to give him a big shoutout here today. I would take every opportunity to encourage young people, men and women, to explore apprenticeships routes. They offer dignity, experience and lifetime careers. However, without a strong national message and strong Government action, we will continue to underserve thousands of talented young people who would thrive in these pathways.”
“What concrete measures and actions can be taken to boost uptake? What is the strategic plan to integrate apprenticeships into sectors where Ireland should already be leading, such as our tech industry, advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, the semiconductor sector, engineering and biotech? These areas rely on precision skills and a workforce trained not only in theory but in practice. Industrial development is not solely a question of tax incentives or attracting foreign capital; it is fundamentally about building technical capacity within our population and ensuring Irish workers, our young people, have the skills to shape and sustain the industries we hope to grow. More broadly, we urgently need a national, cultural shift in how we speak about the value of apprenticeships.”
“It is fundamentally about building technical capacity within our own population, ensuring that Irish workers, our young people, have the skills to shape and sustain the industries we hope to grow. More broadly, we also need a national cultural shift in how we speak about the value of apprenticeships. The Government has a significant role to play in this. I am delighted to see Ms Katelyn Cummins here today to champion women in apprenticeships. Many young people around this country are doing well in apprenticeships. A young man in my town left school after the junior certificate with a great result in mathematics. He left school qualified, as did a number of people at the time. At 22 years of age he bought his house. He left school at 16. I want to give him a big shout out here today.”
“Uptake has increased, and that is welcome, but let us be honest with ourselves, only an estimated 5% of our school leavers entered apprenticeships, while England is already at 10% and Germany stands at an extraordinary 45%. That comparison alone should set alarm bells ringing. A lots is done, but we have a lot more to do. I asked the Government directly what concrete actions can be taken to boost uptake and what the strategic plan is to integrate apprenticeships into sectors where Ireland should already be leading, such as our tech industry, advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, the semiconductor sector, engineering and biotech. These areas rely on precision skills. They rely on a workforce trained not only in theory but in practice. Industrial development is not solely a question of tax incentives or attracting foreign capital.”
“I had better welcome the guests from Cavan here this evening. They are all very welcome. This Department is doing marvellous work. It is a brand new Department, at only five years old. We have to remember that. I recall when the Minister, Deputy Harris came in here, when he first started the Department back in July 2020. I said to him that with a stroke of a pen he could create thousands of jobs. I encouraged him to go out and set up apprenticeships within the public service and that is exactly what he has done. I am glad that today we have 566 apprenticeships because of that idea. Progress has been made, but these are pockets of innovation. The reality on the ground is that momentum elsewhere remains quite slow.”
“When the council built or purchased directly, the cost was close to €250,000. If any of this is true, it is a total and utter scandal. We must have a proper debate and an intensive investigation into this issue. Where are our national media and investigative journalists when it comes to these approved housing bodies? We have 550 of them.”
“It would be laughable if it were not costing the taxpayer a fortune. Let us call out the next layer of absurdity. On top of these guaranteed State payments, the housing bodies also collect rent from the tenants, many of whom rely on social welfare. That is two income streams for one home. To top it all off, the approved housing bodies are then permitted to sell the properties after 30 years. Meanwhile, the councils, the very bodies that once built entire towns, are forced to stand back and watch this circus unfold, unable to lay a single brick, because these approved housing body projects have swallowed up all the available builders. Is any of this cheaper? Councillor Moran’s figures, even though they apply only to Laois, are shocking. Through approved housing bodies, the council paid up to €1 million per property.”
“A national issue was highlighted last week in Laois County Council. Councillor Aisling Moran undertook Trojan work examining three decades of social housing costs, comparing homes delivered directly by the council with those delivered through approved housing bodies. What she uncovered was startling. If the approved housing body model operates as presented, our nation has drifted into financial madness. We now have a Government that refuses to trust its own local councils to build homes. Instead, we are left with a system where the State gives a loan to a housing body, not repayable for 30 years, and then pays the same housing body every single month via the councils so that it can help to repay the loan the State gave it in the first place. Imagine lending someone money and then paying them to pay you back, and calling it innovation.”
“While I know many Indians in my own constituency and community who are hardworking, contributing men and women, economic sanity dictates we cannot throw our borders open to less developed nations of such scale without endangering domestic labour. It is the same with the Mercosur deal. There is no way our farmers can compete fairly with South America, where there are industrial ranches the size of County Laois. Yet, our Government stayed silent until the last minute instead of signalling opposition from day one, wasting both our own credibility and our real opportunity to stop the deal. We are at a pivotal moment in history, with many vital decisions before us in the coming months, and we must seriously switch on to defend our national interests.”
“In other words, the EU keeps pushing a 20-year-old globalist trade agenda for a world which no longer exists, trying to trump hard power with trade deals. Worse still, our own Government seems content to go blindly along with this agenda instead of taking the path of hard-nosed realism and working to shore up our own economic independence and autonomy. The risk of the race to the bottom created by this deal cannot be overstated. We are opening our customs union to a nation where the average salary of its 1.4 billion people is €350 a month. Likewise with the proposal to increase labour mobility with India.”
“It is not often we hear Senators complimenting previous colleagues here. It was so nice to hear Senator Scahill thank Aisling Dolan for the work she did here in the Seanad. I commend him on that. Only last week, the Canadian Prime Minister made waves by declaring that the old rules-based world order is dead and is not coming back, saying that it was always partially false and that we should not mourn it. As a confirmed liberal who has been the target of Trump's anger, Carney's speech is sobering and should be read as a serious warning and wake-up call to us in Europe and Ireland. Instead, we are seeing Ursula von der Leyen gleefully heralding a new trade agreement with India which will see the elimination of up to 90% of all tariffs between the EU and that nation.”
“Ireland should not compromise its neutrality by participating in an EU vehicle that blurs the line between humanitarian assistance and military financing. This amendment protects our long-standing foreign policy doctrine and respects the fact that the EU was never intended to act as a military alliance by proxy. For those reasons, I support the Sinn Féin amendment and I urge all colleagues in this House to do the same.”
“Furthermore, in the middle of the talks of the Russians repaying the loan or how Ukraine needs it for reconstruction, there seems to be an exactly zero serious consideration of what the actual end of this conflict will look like. This should force us to be extra considerate in the nature of our support to a nation at war. The amendment proposed by Senator Murphy does something simple and sensible. It ring-fences Ireland's participation strictly for non-military, humanitarian and civilian purposes. That is consistent with our neutrality and our values. We support Ukraine, but we will not be drawn by stealth or by pressure into EU-level financing of war, either by unelected Brussels bureaucrats or by the cluelessness of our Government. There is nothing stopping member states that wish to provide military loans from doing so independently.”
“It certainly does not require that we sign blank cheques into systems where oversight is weak. As I said before, Ukraine's own anti-corruption agencies have acknowledged the scale of corruption within the country's political, defence and procurement sectors. Billions have been miscalculated, misallocated and misappropriated over the past decade. This is not a judgment on the Ukrainian people, who have fought bravely and honourably, but an acknowledgement of the governance reality. When we are to provide large-scale loans with diminished checks and balances, it is only responsible to ask whether these funds will reach the civilians who truly need them.”
“I rise in support of the amendment before us, which reaffirms Ireland's long-held policy of military neutrality while ensuring that the support we give to Ukraine is humanitarian, civilian and grounded in accountability. Let me be absolutely clear: the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was an act of aggression driven by expansionist ambition and the suffering endured by the Ukrainian people since then has been immense. They deserve solidarity, compassion and assistance, particularly in the protection of energy systems, hospitals and essential civilian infrastructure that has been relentlessly targeted. However, solidarity does not require that Ireland abandons its own principles and blindly signs anything Brussels sends us. It does not require that we funnel money through EU mechanisms that can be used for military purposes.”
“While we are trimming excess, let us look at the bloated NGO sector, where millions are spent annually on organisations with overlapping roles, minimal transparency and limited accountability. If we must tighten belts, let us start with the sectors that have grown fat on public money, not with the pockets of those already stretching to breaking point.”
“The USC hits hardest those who can least afford it, shaving off the few euro they desperately need for food, energy, school costs and rent. We are told that we cannot abolish the USC because the State needs the money, while corporation tax receipts have skyrocketed from roughly €4 billion in 2012 to almost €40 billion by 2025, a tenfold increase. The money is there. What is lacking is political will and political honesty. If cuts are required to make up the difference, then let us have the courage to start at the top. Let us begin by cutting the pensions of the very Ministers and TDs who promised to abolish the USC and then abandoned that promise once safely in office. Actions should have consequences, especially when those actions burden ordinary working people.”
“I too want to extend my sympathies to the Crowley family and the Fianna Fáil family on the loss of Brian. I rise today to speak about the universal social charge, USC. When the USC was introduced, we were told it was a temporary measure, a crisis tax for a crisis moment. Yet, here we are, a decade and a half later, with a Government still clinging to it as though it were some sacred pillar of fiscal stability. Fine Gael promised to abolish the USC. Its members stood before voters in 2016 with that pledge but today we see a complete U-turn. There is not even an apology, just silence and spin. Meanwhile, the people bearing the brunt are not the wealthy, the multinationals or the political class but the working poor - the carers, shop owners, taxi drivers and parents juggling two jobs.”
“I ask that this House schedule an urgent debate on compliance with child protection orders, the continued use of unregulated emergency places, the role of inter-agency safeguarding - including an Garda Síochána - and persistent failures to allocate social workers to children already in care before yet another judge is left to ask how the obvious was allowed to happen.”
“Judges are forced to repeatedly recall cases just to maintain accountability. What is especially troubling is the moral confusion that surrounds these failures. While many Irish politicians are quick, and rightly so, to condemn the creation of harmful artificial images involving children, they have been far quieter when confronted with documented cases of the actual sexual abuse of minors occurring within State-managed systems. This imbalance discredits public debate and those involved and suggests a troubling preference for performative outrage over confronting reality. Children do not consent to chaos. They do not consent to drifting between placements or protection that exists only on paper.”
“In circumstances where a child is repeatedly reported missing, where serious criminal abuse is alleged and where sexual exploitation is openly discussed in court, it is reasonable to ask where was the Garda and whether every appropriate safeguarding and investigative measure activated in time. In another series of cases, despite direct court orders, children were left for months without allocated social workers. In one case, official records show a child having annual contact with a father who was long deceased. That is not a minor error; it is evidence of a system that has lost command of basic oversight. These failures are not isolated. They mirror what the Child Law Project has consistently documented. Interim care orders are extended indefinitely and unregulated emergency arrangements become the default.”
“I rise this morning because the State's protection of vulnerable children is once again failing in ways that should be deeply troubling to this House. In recent weeks, the courts have heard evidence of children placed in State care who were left without proper supervision and without allocated social workers, and who were exposed to serious exploitation. One teenage girl already under an interim care order went missing repeatedly while in care and was allegedly sexually abused by adult men across the city. The agencies responsible for her did not account for her movements and objectively failed to keep her safe.”
“I know how passionate the Minister of State is about mental health. I thank her for intervening in a case that I brought to her earlier and for the work that she does. It is a tough job. As legislators, we try to make things better for those in our communities. I know where the Minister of State's heart and soul are, and I thank her. Ministers often are not thanked enough for the job that they do. I wanted to thank the Minister of State on the record here this evening.”
“I want to ask the left whether Iranians bleed differently from Palestinians. I ask that we place this matter on the agenda for urgent debate.”
“Meanwhile, testimonies describe the torture, rape and degrading treatment carried out systemically to terrorise civilian protesters, while Iran's judiciary declared it is just getting started in punishing so-called rioters. We cannot ignore the scale of public executions, nor the central role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps whose actions have resulted in renewed calls across Europe for its designation as a terrorist organisation, a push we must support. When the House condemned the treatment of Iranian women in October 2022, we were rightly vocal in our obligation to stand for human dignity, yet today I observe a troubling tendency among certain sections of the left more concerned with condemning the political right in the West than supporting the human rights of the Iranian people.”
“I draw urgent attention to the worsening catastrophe and crackdown in Iran. Following mass demonstrations since late December, the regime's response has been one of breathtaking brutality. Credible monitoring reports estimate that over 25,000 protesters have been killed, with tens of thousands arrested across the country. Some reports suggest more than 20,000 people may have been detained, many held incommunicado under a sweeping digital blackout. These protests are driven by a people pushed to desperation by decades of authoritarian corruption and mismanagement. Tehran, a city of more than 10 million people, is suffering severe water shortages and electricity blackouts, with experts warning of an impending water day zero. The country's president has cautioned that the capital may even face evacuation.”
“Tusla must put in the supports to look after that birth mother and child in the earliest days. I wish everybody in the Chamber a very happy Christmas and I will be thinking especially of Senators Costello and Clifford-Lee, who will be without their parent this year for the first Christmas. I wish you all a very happy Christmas.”