International Developments: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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John McGuinness (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny

I want to pick up on a phrase used by Deputy Gibney. It cannot be business as usual. Deputy Gibney is absolutely correct. The world is in a crisis, changing every single day with the usual norms not being acknowledged or adhered to. Countries are having to reshape or reset their policies in order to deal with the daily changes that are being brought on us, mainly by the US President, Donald Trump, and by others.
I urge the Government to respect the democracy of this Parliament and to have the debates that are being asked for so we can have an input, whether that is the triple lock or any other measure that is going to be discussed by the European Union in terms of policy. We should have our say. If we look across the European Union, we will see lots of countries protesting. People are feeling disenfranchised. The citizens of the European Union are certainly feeling that they are not heard. On lots of issues, people in Ireland feel they are not being heard. Policy in the past was shaped by democratically elected Members of Parliament. That is not happening at the moment. Policy is being changed and rammed down the throats of many countries and through parliaments. Some of the changes we do not even know about because we do not get a chance to debate them here.
If we are going to have meaningful change, I suggest Ireland needs to play a significant, central role in Europe in shaping policy around the proper language in dealing with all of the issues and, indeed, in informing the policy about the positions that the citizens of Europe want to take relative to their lives and their future. Peace is what Europe should be about. That is the emphasis we need to go back to as a country. I encourage the Minister to have those debates that are necessary and that we shape our policy on those grounds.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21