Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-10
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Ivana Bacik (LAB), Dublin Bay South

If I may say, that is a most unsatisfactory response. The Taoiseach has conflated, wrongly in my view, quite a number of issues. Of course countries have migration laws. Of course, the successive Irish Governments have for many years been trying to regularise undocumented Irish citizens in the US.
However, we are talking about an Irish citizen who has been detained in inhumane conditions for five months in the US in breach of international law. That is the issue here. What I have not heard from the Taoiseach is any sense of urgency about securing his release or ensuring that no other Irish citizens are being held in the same conditions. Some may be, but we do not know. There could be as many as 12 apparently.
What I have not heard from the Taoiseach are any words that will offer comfort to families here of Irish citizens in the US, to Seamus’s family or, indeed, to others. The Taoiseach is saying that the Government is going to continue using fairly limited diplomatic levers. He is still going to go to the US. Would it not be more appropriate to go to the US on St. Patrick’s Day to offer condolences to the mayor of Minneapolis? Because we are seeing ICE killing US citizens on the streets and detaining Irish citizens in breach of due process and in inhumane conditions.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-10