International Developments: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
============================================================

Malcolm Byrne (FF), Wicklow-Wexford

I would share Deputy Boyd Barrett's view that the Inuit people are a wonderful and friendly people. It is one of the challenges in this debate. A lot of the discussion is rightly around geopolitics and security but we do need to think about the 57,000 people who live there. It is for the people of Greenland to determine their future. They have made very clear that at present they want to remain as part of Denmark. We need to show solidarity with them. Mark Carney summed it up very well this week. It is time for those of us in those countries that believe in the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law to stand up to bullying tactics, as President Macron referred to.
I would also say, and this is important, the United States has been a long friend of Ireland. Regardless of the politics we have many family, trade, educational and cultural links. I know the United States. It is a wonderful place. Americans are friendly and welcoming and want to develop those friendships. I hope we can use whatever channels we have to continue to encourage partnership between Ireland, Europe and the United States to de-escalate the current tensions we are seeing.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

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