Tom Clonan
University of Dublin · Independent · Ireland
“It is appalling; you could not make it up. However, as this is a very grave and dark thing, they raised these concerns by way of protected disclosures in February 2025. Here we are, 18 months later, and no action has been properly taken. Those protected disclosures have not been processed about a child safety issue.”
“I thank the Senator. The Adult Safeguarding Strategy Bill that I hope to introduce fills the gap that exists in Irish legislation around adult safeguarding for our elderly citizens and for all of us who at some point in life will need care. This Bill is consistent with what the Government has set out in the programme for Government.”
“They told me one of them was informed of a child sexual assault or the potential for one - even a rape of a child - and under the guidelines, this requires mandatory reporting, so they set about reporting it to An Garda Síochána and Tusla.”
“A woman came into the clinic and expressed concerns - and I am sorry to use this language here - that she had discovered her spouse - her husband - was accessing child pornography images and films through his devices. These are crime scenes. This is the sexual abuse and rape of children.”
“This should be dealt with with energy and urgency, because all this talk about process is not child-centred. It is administration-centred and it is a classic HSE tactic to cover up, deny and delay grave matters. I want to know why this particular manager is pushing back on mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.”
“I thank the Minister of State for reading out the statement on behalf of the Minister, Deputy MacNeill. None of these remarks are directed personally at the Minister of State, but to be honest, ChatGPT could have written that response. In it, the Minister, Deputy MacNeill says she and the HSE cannot comment on individual cases.”
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“It is really important that we should have included services in this Bill, but as Senator Black said we will return to this and will push for it. We had an opportunity here, given our Presidency of the European Union, to create the consensus Senator Ahearn talked about, when all of Europe would come together. This is a missed opportunity to do that. I thank Senator Black for all the work she has done in this regard.”
“That is why, as one of my colleagues set out, an entire family were killed in the occupied territories, because they know the family are all together as one unit and it is a deliberate tactic to kill. They call it "mowing the grass". It is disgusting and obscene. I want to be really clear about this; it is not technology that permits this - it is computing power. That is why services are so important. The Israelis cannot have access to the computing power of our data centres because that is what they do. You do not need physical proximity to a data centre to harness its computing power. We know they have harnessed some of the computing power for programmes for something like Uber to enhance their targeting acquisition and their logistics.”
“This is a premeditated, methodical act of terrorism against the Palestinian people. It is genocide in tooth and nail. In order for the Israelis to carry out the level of slaughter they have, they have been mobilising artificial intelligence. We now know they have a number of targeting algorithms, including Lavender and Habsora or The Gospel - one of them is called Daddy's Home - where from all of the data they scrape from the Internet and compute, the intersectional points are often when a target, which is randomly assigned not by a human but by an artificial intelligence search engine, is at home with his or her family. That is a place he or she will return to and that is why so many civilians have been butchered.”
“They are an absolutely reprehensible and odious organisation, as are Hezbollah, who have murdered Irish soldiers, including a peacekeeper not long ago. They are war crimes but we have to be very careful. I was in Senator McDowell's office recently and he has a framed black and white photograph of a young boy with his hands up, surrounded by German soldiers. I asked him, "Why do you have that picture there, Michael?" - I do call him Michael in an informal setting - and he replied that is why we are here. It is that simple. We are here to prevent this type of genocide and it is happening now on our watch, as public representatives. The shooting of children, selectively, in the abdomen one day, in their genitalia the next day, in their heads a day after, is being documented.”
“Approximately 16,000 civilians have been killed in Putin's criminal and appalling invasion of Ukraine and the Irish Government has done everything in its power to sanction Russian in that regard. We have been involved in countless rounds of sanctions against Russian goods and services. We have supplied Ukraine with all sorts of supports, including military equipment. We gave away all of our air defence weapons and this is quite right. We should do this but we should also act with the same alacrity and urgency when it comes to our Palestinian brothers and sisters of whom 75,000 have been murdered by the Israel Defense Forces. In the occupied territories it is a figure of about 1,000 since the genocidal attack on Israel by Hamas of 7 October. I want to be really clear; I condemn Hamas.”
“Sure. I simply wished to congratulate the Minister on the statements that she has made and the leadership she has given in our explicit condemnations of Israel's actions. To be clear, the Israel Defense Forces is a multi-confessional organisation. It has Jewish, Druze, Sunni Muslim, Christian and Shia Muslim members. It is a multi-confessional force, so to criticise its illegal actions and its acts of genocide is not a statement of antisemitism, as Senator McDowell said. The charges that have been made against members of the Government and Opposition that they are antisemitic are, in and of themselves, racially motivated. It is Hibernophobic because the extreme elements in the Israeli Government resent the fact that we call them out on their illegal actions.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to require the Minister for Health to prepare periodic strategic plans for the purpose of protecting certain persons who are at risk of harm, to make certain provisions in relation to the implementation and review of such strategic plans and to provide for related matters.”
“While we often disagree here, sometimes vocally and strenuously, we are colleagues and we have the best interests of the public at heart. This legislation if progressed will bring Ireland into line with the rest of Europe in relation to adult safeguarding and will fill that gap. In the late 1970s, as part of the Finglas youth project we used to cycle out to Rush and Skerries. I would say they were delighted to see us coming. We each had 50 pence to spend in the shops. They were probably even more delighted to see us going back. On a serious note, that part of county Dublin, Rush, Skerries, the Naul, Ballyboughal and Man of War is the most beautiful countryside. It is a hidden heartland of the county. The best of luck with the festivals.”
“I thank the Senator. The Adult Safeguarding Strategy Bill that I hope to introduce fills the gap that exists in Irish legislation around adult safeguarding for our elderly citizens and for all of us who at some point in life will need care. This Bill is consistent with what the Government has set out in the programme for Government. I thank all my colleagues from Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, Aontú, the Green Party and the Civic Engagement Group and from my colleagues in the Seanad Independent Group for co-sponsoring the Bill. I also thank my colleagues on the other side of the House. We have some way to go on this but they have indicated that they will not oppose it. That is emblematic of this House in that we can see in Westminster and Washington the aggravated polarity in those Chambers. However, this remains a collegial House.”
“With the Cathaoirleach's leave I would like to propose an amendment to the Order of Business today to take No. 20 on the Order Paper before No. 1 in order that I can introduce my Adult Safeguarding Strategy Bill. I need to get a seconder.”
“This should be dealt with with energy and urgency, because all this talk about process is not child-centred. It is administration-centred and it is a classic HSE tactic to cover up, deny and delay grave matters. I want to know why this particular manager is pushing back on mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse. There are serious questions to be answered here. I will conclude with this. A moral excuse can be made for theft to save people's lives if they rob some food. A moral rationale can even made for killing in defence of people's own lives. The one thing as a species we have no rationale for - there can be no defence for - is the rape of a child and here we have a manager who says that concerns in this regard should not be reported. I cannot think of a more serious issue that has been brought before this House.”
“I thank the Minister of State for reading out the statement on behalf of the Minister, Deputy MacNeill. None of these remarks are directed personally at the Minister of State, but to be honest, ChatGPT could have written that response. In it, the Minister, Deputy MacNeill says she and the HSE cannot comment on individual cases. Then on the second page, she refers at length to this individual case, so they do and do not do so when it suits them. That is a rhetorical device to insulate themselves from responsibility. There is a serious problem in that area. The Ministers of State, Deputies Feighan and Harkin, and other TDs who are representatives of that area are now aware of it. They should be looking into it. I should not have to go up and down to Carrick-on-Shannon and Sligo on a child protection issue.”
“I reminded him of it. Therefore, today I am at the end of my tether. I have raised serious issues in this country, about sexual assault and rape of female soldiers, for example, and now a tribunal is sitting up in Smithfield at huge expense to the taxpayer. It is Tom Clonan for slow learners. I raised all those issues 25 years ago and here I am. George Gibney is up in the courts waiting to be sentenced. It took, as Senator Boyhan said here yesterday, 50 years for his paedophilia and abuse to be reckoned with. What are we going to do in HSE West and North-West?”
“It is appalling; you could not make it up. However, as this is a very grave and dark thing, they raised these concerns by way of protected disclosures in February 2025. Here we are, 18 months later, and no action has been properly taken. Those protected disclosures have not been processed about a child safety issue. Are the people of Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon happy that their children are left in an environment where grave concerns - criminal concerns - are raised and, by way of the processes set out, no meaningful action is taken? Some of the oft-repeated questions in politics are when people found out and, when they did, what they did about it. I raised this by way of Commencement matter and on the Order of Business last year and in October I informed the regional executive officer of HSE West and North-West about this.”
“A woman came into the clinic and expressed concerns - and I am sorry to use this language here - that she had discovered her spouse - her husband - was accessing child pornography images and films through his devices. These are crime scenes. This is the sexual abuse and rape of children. She reported this and her concerns about children in the family and neighbouring children but again, when they reported this, there was push-back from the same management team to say they should not be reporting this. It was even suggested that one of these clinicians had a mental disorder. They raised these concerns because they are people of conscience and they have great moral courage, notwithstanding the reprisal and intimidation they have experienced. I have seen the email exchanges between this individual and these three clinicians.”
“They told me one of them was informed of a child sexual assault or the potential for one - even a rape of a child - and under the guidelines, this requires mandatory reporting, so they set about reporting it to An Garda Síochána and Tusla. However, they then experienced reprisal, harassment and bullying in the workplace from a senior manager who directed them not to report their concerns. Not reporting their concerns is a criminal offence. For a senior manager to instruct, direct or advise these clinicians not to make this report is also a criminal offence, is it not? No disciplinary process has been taken against that individual and there has been no investigation into that person. The reason I am here today is because I met those three clinicians again and there was another similar incident earlier this year - a second time.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming along today. He can see from my Commencement matter that these are very grave matters, and they revolve around several issues. First and foremost is the potential rape and sexual assault of children in HSE West and North-West, that is, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon and Donegal. I have raised these issues in the health committee, on the floor of this House during the Order of Business and in previous Commencement matters, and no meaningful action has been taken. This issue refers to three people of conscience in the HSE; three fine clinicians who reached out to me almost two years ago, and whom I have met in Carrick-on-Shannon and Sligo.”
“It was confirmed to us by the Cypriots at the defence and national security committee when they told of how, during their Presidency, when their country was were attacked by missiles and drones in March, they were not consulted nor were they informed about the retaliatory action that was taken by the Hellenic Air Force in the form of air strikes with the British and French in their jurisdiction. We need to know what the rules of engagement of these NATO countries in our sovereign airspace and maritime domain are and whether they have permission to open fire or intercept while we have civil aircraft in our skies and people on our streets. We need to have an urgent debate or statements on this matter in order that we might find out what is happening.”
“Today, we have handed over our defence and security sovereignty to a troika of the Royal Air Force, the French navy and the Portuguese military, but at least the arrival of the troika in 2010 was announced. Its arrival was initially denied by the Government of the day, but eventually we were told. The Irish public is completely in the dark about the role of this troika of military actors, all of which are NATO members, that are operating off our coast, in our airspace and, perhaps, even on the roof of this very building.”
“Perhaps our colleagues who are based in the relevant areas might apply the proper pressure just to vindicate the right of little boys and girls who happen to be wheelchair users to go down to the sea. I want to raise an issue of grave and compelling concern. On 28 November 2010, a day that will go down in infamy, the troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund arrived in Dublin and travelled to the Merrion Hotel, which is just across the road. Ireland yielded it fiscal sovereignty to its European partners for a period of three years. This was a disgraceful episode in Irish history when we handed over our fiscal and budgetary autonomy to European partners.”
“I want to raise the case of Ruby Daly, a six-year-old girl in Galway who is non-verbal and in a wheelchair. In this fine weather we are all enjoying and that we hope to enjoy for the next couple of weeks, we would all like to go down to the water's edge. Being able to go to the beach or the seafront is something everyone in Ireland takes for granted. If you are a wheelchair user, however, that is not possible. I am told that Galway County Council bought €9,000 worth of beach mats in 2021 that are lying in storage and not in use. I also understand it purchased a number of Mobi-mats at a cost of €2,000 each that have not been deployed. As a result, people like Ruby cannot get down to the beach like everyone else. I would just ask that the correct action be taken.”
“I have heard nothing, and I have written to her several times seeking the meeting she promised me. All the while, disabled citizens around this country are locked into grinding, enduring poverty, a cost-of-living crisis and a cost of disability that is up to €28,000 per annum. All I can say is, to quote Scrooge from Dickens's A Christmas Carol , "no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused". That is what happened on this day last year, 25 June 2025. I hope we can have some sort of a debate about the cost-of-living crisis as it applies to disabled citizens.”
“The Minister, Deputy Foley, time-delayed it for 18 months. According to the Order Paper, the Disability (Personalised Budgets) Bill 2024 is ordered to be read a Second Time on 25 December 2026. I wonder if I should come in before or after the Christmas dinner. Maybe Senator McCarthy will come up from County Kildare and support me. We could share some cranberry sauce over a little bit of reheated turkey. That time delay was cynical, to be perfectly honest. I was told by the Minister that she had to delay it because she needed to consult her officials on the pilot project. She said she would come back to me in good faith and work with me to progress this legislation. Here I am, exactly one year later, and what have I heard from the Minister, Deputy Foley?”
“For the first time in the history of the State, a Bill was prepared by one of the major international law firms based in Dublin along with the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers. As part of its pro bono corporate social responsibility, that international law firm gave me a legal team pro bono for almost two years to work on this legislation. It took every bit of Government policy and every Government consultation that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and their coalition partners had done, right up to and including the disability action plan of the then Minister of State, Senator Rabbitte, and the then Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. Everything the Government wanted to do and had set out in policy for personalised budgets is in this Bill. The only thing that is missing is the passing of the legislation. I presented it on this day last year.”
“Dobro jutro, Dobar Dan ; good morning to the ambassador. He is very welcome. From Ljubljana to Maribor and beautiful places like Portorož, Slovenia is a beautiful country. I was in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of the war in 1996. We travelled from Prijedor through Banja Luka up to the border with Slovenia. I remember that Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were in complete darkness. When we crossed the border into Slovenia, it was lit up. All the lights were on. It was beautiful. Slovenia enjoys that peace, as we do here. We can never take peace for granted. We have so much in common with Slovenia. We have powerful neighbours and great friends. I wish Slovenia a very happy Independence Day. On this day last year, 25 June 2025, I came in here and presented the Disability (Personalised Budgets) Bill 2024.”
“The State, against which a complaint has been made, then has the right to decide whether that plaintiff should have legal representation and who their guardian ad litem should be. It is also my understanding that this new national guardian service is about to appoint 65 full-time guardians ad litem , many of whom have come straight from Tusla. To me, as a layperson, it seems to be a kind of a power grab or attempt to capture and control the capacity of guardians ad litem to fully and freely advocate for a child, given that they serve at the pleasure of the defendant who can withdraw their guardianship at any given moment. As a layperson, I am disturbed by this. I imagine it is not in the interests of the legal profession either. I am sure there must be some considerable concern about this among the legal profession.”
“Under these changes, it is now proposed, that contrary to the Constitution, the first-named defendant is inserted as a third party in between the previously direct relationship between the court that appoints a guardian ad litem and the guardian ad litem . It provides for a legal structure whereby a guardian ad litem serves at the pleasure of the first-named defendant, rather than the court hearing the application. There are several other grave concerns raised in this case but I do not intent to go through them all. As a layperson, it seems extraordinary and perverse that the Minister for children would appoint a guardian ad litem , rather than the court. In my amateur interpretation of it, I question whether this violates the separation of powers between the State and the Judiciary, or the Executive and the Judiciary.”
“It reminds me of that expression – I do not mean to be trite or facile – that we are taught to be afraid of the monster under the bed when, in fact, we should be thinking of the monster in the bed beside us. This Bill is a great step forward and I welcome it. However, I echo what Senator McCormack said because it is a good point. We are taking one step forward but at the same time, we are taking a step backwards. I raise concerns about this new scheme for the appointment of guardians ad litem . The Association of Guardians ad Litem in Ireland, which represents 96% of those guardians, has expressed grave concerns and challenged this new scheme in the High Court. Previously, it is my understanding – the Minister must forgive my layperson understanding of this – that it was the court that appointed a guardian ad litem to the child.”
“I thank the Minister for being here today. I echo the support that my colleagues have expressed regarding this legislation. I also welcome our guests here today. Unfortunately, having grown up in Finglas, I am sadly acquainted with the horror of murder within the family unit and the profound violation it is of all that we hold to be the social and ethical contract between people, especially its impact on children, who are the most vulnerable. Given the issues we have on this island with violence against women, gender-based violence and domestic violence, it strikes me that we have a very high rate of incidence. Often, the perpetrator is an intimate partner of the person who is targeted in this way.”
“Those consultants tell me it is not a recruitment issue but a refusal on the part of the HSE in those regional areas to fund the posts and go about the business of recruiting the allied health professionals.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her response. There is nothing personal in what I am about to say. Over the past number of years, I have got to know her a little bit and she is a person of the highest integrity. She mentioned an increase from 220 to 285 funded teams throughout the State. At the same time, she says 30 teams of various sizes have been stood up. There is quite a discrepancy in those figures. Maybe that is something we can clarify subsequently. I might write to her about that. For adults with intellectual disabilities who used to be held in congregated settings, their services have now been moved to the community but I can tell the Minister of State that those services are not available to them. I agree that there are some of what the Minister of State calls starter teams, but they are seriously understaffed.”
“Here is one of the saddest examples: a family reports that an adult with an intellectual disability has recovered her personality and has a sense of humour again. When we think of those parents getting older and being terrified about what is going to happen to their children, the least we can do is fully fund and staff these mental health of intellectual disability teams throughout the State.”
“Given the huge client base of hundreds of older adults with intellectual disabilities who are also particularly prone to mental illness, and in the absence of all of those allied therapies, what consultants have to do - it causes them moral distress - is overprescribe psychotropic medicines, which have very heavy side effects. When one consultant was able to get some psychology support and some OT support, they were able to get one intellectually disabled adult out of a wheelchair and walking again. Another disabled adult has been able to be titrated from a heavy psychotropic medicine to the stage where she can now feed herself. Another disabled adult, having been de-prescribed because of access to these supports, has been able to take up full paid employment in the community.”
“The HSE has said that the reason for that is that they cannot recruit allied health professionals, such as psychologists, social workers, physiotherapists and so on but that is not the case. In fact, the HSE is refusing to fund these posts. That is not the fault of the Minister of State, but perhaps she could encourage it to do so. In Cork, for example, there is a team and all it has is a consultant and executive clinical director. It has no social worker, no psychologist and no occupational therapists. That is the fact of the matter today.”
“Since then, however, only one team has been set up fully with the proper complement of nurses, a consultant psychiatrist with higher specialist training in the mental health of intellectual disability, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, OTs, and physiotherapists. There is only one team - a pilot project in Cavan. Throughout the rest of the country, those teams are not filled. I have been approached by a number of hospital consultants and executive clinical directors in the field of mental health of intellectual disability. I have also spoken to the chair of the faculty of mental health of intellectual disability in the Irish College of Psychiatry. They confirm that these teams are not fully staffed and are not funded.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming here today. I very much appreciate that the line Minister of State is here to answer my Commencement matter. I am here to talk about the national service model for the mental health of intellectual disability. I might explain that. Tens of thousands of people throughout the Republic suffer from intellectual disabilities. Many of these people live at home with elderly parents. There are 55,000 disabled adults over the age of 25 living at home with parents who are over the age of 60. A plan for the mental health of intellectual disability service was published in 2021 to establish teams around the country to meet the needs of this very vulnerable community and their carers.”
“It is envisaged in the Bill, as confirmed by the Minister of State last week, that they would be paid anyway. I cannot see how this amendment would levy a charge on the State if it is already provided for in the legislation. It has been ruled out of order. I do not know whether the Minister of State would have supported it had it been allowed. I ask the Minister of State, when he and his officials are drafting the final legislation, to see whether there is any way they could include even one line to remove that ambiguity and ensure it is clear to anyone in the HSE that they cannot refuse to give public funding to someone on the basis that they are self-employed and not part of a large agency. I thank the Minister of State for his patience.”
“Last week, the Minister of State agreed that the intention of this legislation was not to exclude those people from payment, but I fear that, as a result of the little bit of ambiguity here, it could be used as a way for the HSE to shoehorn disabled citizens and elderly people into availing of the services of large agencies and for-profit providers, which pay carers very low wages. The carers who come to me are earning €13 or €14 per hour despite approximately €35 per hour being allocated. It is the agency that takes that money. That is the reason I tabled this amendment. I know that the amendment has been ruled out in error, one that revolves around the ambiguity I am trying to address. Whoever ruled it out of order thought that these providers would be paid in addition, but that is not the case.”
“When a lot of those administrators and disability managers move on, they move into the private sector. There is a revolving door in that regard. That is why they recommend in that way. I have had cases where HSE managers have told me to use a specific service and no other, and then I discovered that the people operating that service are former colleagues of that person. I introduced this amendment to be absolutely clear that no self-employed care provider or personal assistant would be denied access to public funding as a result of their not being amendable to regulation, as set out in the Bill.”
“When I presented the Bill to the House and argued its merits, the Minister, Deputy Foley, delayed it for 18 months. It is delayed until Christmas Day. I have seen in the Order Paper that it will be read again on Christmas Day. Should I come in after my dinner or will it happen before I take the turkey out of the oven? The legislation I drafted is in line with every single policy aspiration of the Government. If we have personalised budgets for disabled citizens, like my son, how will those funds be dispersed? That is why I am saying, like Senators Boyhan and Tully, that this should be person centred rather than administrative systems centred. Disabled citizens and older people should be able to choose the carers or support providers themselves. That should not be within the purview of an administrator in the HSE.”
“This time last year, on 25 June 2025, I introduced a comprehensive Bill on personalised budgets to this House. I worked with a corporate legal firm to do so. It was the first time in the history of the State that a corporate legal firm – one of the big internationals – worked with the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, to draft legislation. That major legal partnership came to me and offered me the use of a legal team, pro bono , for almost two years. The team did all of the research. It looked at every system internationally and every single consultation that this and previous Irish Governments had done, right up to and including the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026 by the former Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, and the former Minister of State, Senator Rabbitte.”
“I have been told by disability managers, after an assessment of need recommended that my now adult son needed, let us say, 24 support hours, that he did not need that number. The attitude is one of the health services will give him ten hours and we will take what we are given. The reason I introduced this amendment was to be absolutely explicit and remove any ambiguity that "a person who provides a home support service to fewer than 4 persons as described in paragraph (a) shall be paid with public funds in a similar way to a registered agency and shall not be precluded from payment as a self-employed carer." It is not adding any extra cost to the Exchequer; it is just clarifying a matter. That is why I believe the ruling out of this amendment was an error. All of these things, as Senator Boyhan referred to earlier, knit together.”
“The Minister of State and his officials are very welcome. I think the amendment has been ruled out of order in error, because when we spoke about this last week, there was ambiguity. Basically, the Bill says that providers with fewer than four clients do not have to be amenable to regulation, but they can continue to work and be paid. As I pointed out last week, the HSE acts in an idiosyncratic and capricious way when it comes to funding for carer and personal assistance support hours. I know this from my lived experience over the past 20 years. There is a terrible power imbalance between parents and disabled citizens and those who sanction payment for hours. Each regional health area acts differently in this regard. In fact, each community healthcare organisation, CHO, has its own rules. The CHOs make them up by themselves.”
“The idea Trump, Putin or Xi Jinping has a say in where we send our troops is a false narrative. It is a choice of the Irish people by sovereign decision of the Oireachtas and solemn declarations given in Europe that we would be bound - this is what the Irish people want - by the multilateral principles of the United Nations. A time when we are having illegal wars, for example, the strikes on Iran - reprehensible as that regime is - and the invasion of Lebanon, is not the time to walk away from the UN. I ask my colleagues in Fianna Fáil to, when they are at their parliamentary meeting tonight talking about this issue, ask where our troops will be sent. To suggest there is no link between neutrality and the triple lock is like saying there is no link between the steering wheel and the brakes on a car.”
“We will be sending our troops away on missions no longer wearing the blue beret we are proud of or the blue helmet. They will not be peacekeeping missions; they will be peace enforcement missions. Even peace enforcement missions with a UN mandate - for example, the war in Korea, the Balkans, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and, more recently, Afghanistan - developed into full fighting missions. Without the triple lock, we will not be sending our people on blue-helmeted missions. We will be sending them to fight. If you are fighting, by definition you are not neutral. The myth we can only send 12 personnel overseas at the moment and need to get rid of the triple lock is completely untrue, as was confirmed to the defence and national security committee last May by the Department of Defence.”
“Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an gCeannaire. I am delighted to see Laura, his beautiful family and his dad here. While we differ on a lot of things, we have one small thing in common. His late mum and my late father both served the people of Cahir in different ways, my dad as a member of An Garda Síochána. I know his mum is proud of him and I ask him to go easy on me for the next couple of years. I raise the increasing levels of misinformation and, I am sorry to say, disinformation about the triple lock. As legislation on the triple lock approaches the Houses, that level of misinformation is accelerating. I want to be very clear about this. If we get rid of the triple lock, we will not have peacekeeping any more. By definition, it is not a blue helmet mission without a UN mandate. Think about that.”
“A system that is operating faster than the speed of thought may be overseen by people such as Xi Jinping, the ayatollahs, Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. We must show leadership in our own little way. I am glad the Government is not opposing the Bill. This is an opportunity to show leadership. As somebody said, we must be able to tell our grandchildren that we did everything in our power to stop this.”
“In the early nineties the US Secretary of Defense had a conference in the Pentagon and called in all of America's defense contractors and told them that, basically, they were all fired. It went from having hundreds of defence contractors to just five, including Boeing and Northrop Grumman, because of the peace dividend from the end of the Soviet Union. Donald Trump has brought together over 50 defence contractors and is obliging them to carry out defence work. In Silicon Valley, Google has the motto "Don't be evil." A lot of tech companies in Silicon Valley have traditionally stepped away from military contracts. That has changed. It is now referred to by the tech bros as the defence tech gold rush. We are on the threshold of the proliferation of autonomous weapons. We are at a transformational point.”
“They just attacked a neighbour, like medieval kings crossing into another territory to decapitate their leader. Reprehensible as they are, they killed the Ayatollah. I have no sympathy whatsoever for the Iranian regime and I do not mourn their passing, but I do mourn the passing of international law. We have to show leadership, and if we have to do it at national level, it will create the precedent and create moral pressure. The other issue with these autonomous weapons systems, in all of the desktop, IT-enhanced modelling they have done, they tend towards escalation, without the human component contained within them, because there is no moral dimension or sensitivity contained within them. Why is this happening at the moment?”
“That is faster than human thought. That is not an autonomous weapons system; that is still one that is controlled by human beings. However, they are now controlling systems that operate faster than the speed of human thought and, in that context, they slaughtered thousands and thousands of people. There is a direct correlation between the increase or developments in technology, and lethality. We have to understand the context in which we are bringing this legislation forward. Senator O'Loughlin mentioned international treaties and conventions, and they would be my preference. However, we live in a world where the United States and Russia have acted without any regard to international law. Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu did not declare war on Iran and Lebanon. They did not have the pretence of going to the UN Security Council.”