I wish to put on the record my agreement with Senator Craughwell regarding the men of Jadotville. I watched the Netflix film of the battle the other night. If anybody in this House does not understand what happened at Jadotville, I highly recommend that he or she watch that film. They are absolutely inspiring men and they should be honoured. While the economic consequences of the Covid-19 crisis have been well documented, its impact on the mental health of our people is an equally important consequence. The United …

I welcome the motion and I am delighted to be back in the Chamber. We should not be partisan on this issue, and I have said consistently that we need to give credit where it is due. We have strong debates and disagreements in this House, but it is important that we always recognise the huge amount of time and energy that has been put into Brexit, by the Minister, the entire Department of Foreign Affairs and our diplomatic staff. I thank them for that. I would like to speak on the setting aside of some of the provis…

Those who continue to label this process divisive and dangerous are simply encouraging the spread of fear and anxiety. It must be remembered that the majority of the people on this island voted in favour of the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to this island. This was an agreement based on international law. The union with Britain since 1998 is maintained as a result of a commitment to international law and majority consent. Britain is prepared to break international law and the consequences of this are tha…

This Government has the ability to stand up for international law by passing the Occupied Territories Bill, which imposes sanctions for breaches of these laws. It is time for consistency and all breaches of law must be condemned. I am confident that the Irish Government and its EU partners will remain strong in their promise that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland. The support for the Good Friday Agreement from influential people in the US will also help to ensure Britain honours its obligations …

I wish to raise two issues today. The first is that of the Debenhams workers. We cannot forget about them and their appalling treatment by Debenhams. The workers have been picketing the stores since April for a just redundancy settlement of four weeks' redundancy per year of service. The workers are showing great resilience in their fight for fairness and have rightly rejected as insulting the offer made by the liquidator KPMG. Debenhams should not be allowed to walk away from its obligations and claim inability to…

I highlight my disappointment and surprise at the Taoiseach's reply to a question from Deputy McDonald last Tuesday on the rights of the Palestinian people. With formal annexation of the West Bank now explicitly promised after 50 years of occupation, my goal has been for Ireland to take a more meaningful stance against this, to move beyond condemnation and to offer leadership. I do not want to look back in 20 years and say that we did not do everything in our power on one of the most defining human rights issues of…

Last week I spoke about the impact of Covid-19 on the arts sector. Since then I have been inundated by people on the matter. It is very upsetting to be honest. I have been inundated by people from every part of the arts industry, theatre workers, actors and many musicians who have contacted me. We are all aware that working in the arts is precarious at the best of times but since the lockdown in March the industry has been devastated. Other industries could ask their employees to work from home but this is just not…

Over the past few days I have been inundated with accounts of the hardship being suffered by people in the entertainment business, including performers and many of their staff and crew. They have all asked me to highlight the crisis in their industry. Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, all venues have been forced to close with the resulting loss of hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs. While other industries have also been severely impacted, they are now able to see light at the end of the tunnel but, unfort…

I did not get a chance last week to say I am humbly honoured to have been re-elected to the Seanad. I express my appreciation to all the councillors who voted for me and assure them of my support in their struggles to get proper terms and conditions in recognition of the great work they do in all parts of the country. I wish the new Minister with responsibility for housing well. He has many challenges ahead. I come from Dublin 8 and am deeply concerned about the proposed development of co-living accommodation in th…