An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-22
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Gerard P. Craughwell (IND), Labour Panel

On behalf of the Independent Group, I express our condolences to the Lynch family on the passing of Gerard. May he rest in peace.
There is something that needs to be dispelled. We constantly hear the Zelenskyy visit to Ireland was extremely successful, there was nothing to worry about and everything went perfectly. Everything did not go perfectly. It was a lucky day in that nothing went wrong. We had foreign police - French, Northern Irish and Portuguese police - looking after the man's security. It was not our own Garda Síochána or Defence Forces. It is outrageous to suggest everything went well. At the end of the day, Zelenskyy came and it was a wonderful visit to Leinster House. It was good that Ireland stood up and welcomed him into the country but it was by no means a perfect visit. There were drones in the Irish Sea which may have put his life in peril. We must remember he is probably the number one target in the world from the Russian perspective. They would like nothing better than to take him out. Let us be honest about it.
I move on to yesterday's debate on defence. I commend the Deputy Leader. The speech she gave was 100% on the nail, all but for the tiny bit at the end about a swimming pool in the Curragh, County Kildare.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-22