Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I sincerely thank Congressman Neal for the work that he has done for the island of Ireland over a number of decades.

He and others were part of the Irish caucus, which may be better known as Friends of Ireland, and I have had the opportunity to meet many of them on my many visits to the White House and Congress. I was always taken by the extent to which he and others were absolutely in tune with the political discourse that was taking place here and had a clear understanding of what was at stake.

The Congressman probably thought his work was done when he had played such a crucial role, with others, in bringing the peace process around. He did so through working with former President Clinton to forge a major breakthrough by assisting in getting Gerry Adams a visa. That was probably one of the greatest breakthroughs in helping to break down the barriers that existed. I was very taken by a recent interview the Congressman gave to RTÉ in which he compared the time prior to the peace process with the modern era. He gave his experience of two trips across the Border. Many of the younger generation, as well as some others who chose to ignore the situation at the time, fail to understand the significance of the Border or the impact it had on the people who lived along it. The Congressman eloquently described a time prior to the peace process when he and several of his colleagues sought to cross the Border by bus. He spoke about members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, RUC, coming on board the bus and going through the normal process and the impact that had on him and his colleagues. He then spoke about a later time when he saw the culmination of his work and the impact it had on people's lives and how important it was to see that. I think that contribution was really important during the Brexit process because it helped to bring back in a very distinct way the real negative side of the imposition of a hard border, albeit an economic one as envisaged in a hard Brexit. I thank him for his really important work at this crucial time. When he, as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, made that contribution, together with a very strong declaration by Speaker Pelosi, it sent shivers down certain spines. It certainly dismantled an argument that was being proffered by successive UK Prime Ministers that somehow there was a better deal available to the UK - that somehow there was a crock of gold at the end of the rainbow, and it was located in Congressman Neal's great country. As the television programme goes, he bust that myth. I thank him for doing that. It took a person of his standing, together with Speaker Pelosi, to undermine that argument. His intervention came at a critical time. I cannot overstate the role he has played in those discussions.

That contribution comes from the wider approach taken by, quite frankly, the bipartisan group that for a long time saw the benefits of a strong Europe and a good relationship between the United States and Europe. Sadly, that has been sullied in the past four years by the incumbent US President. I am very hopeful as a result of the election of President-elect Biden, whom I have met on numerous occasions and who is a friend of Ireland, as Congressman Neal knows well in terms of his relationship with the President-elect. There is an important role to be played in moving away from the America first policy and, as has been done in the past, reaching out not in fear, but in the knowledge of strength of the Congressman's country. That will enable it to be a great superpower again and to forge its link with Europe such that all citizens can benefit from the two blocks working together. That approach would stand in contrast to the policy that has been espoused by the current US President for the past four years, which has involved the notion of putting America first by trampling on the hopes and dreams of others. That is something the Congressman has always sought to address and we are really thankful to him for that.

At the end of that very long monologue, my question is whether the Congressman believes that, with the election of President-elect Biden and the passage from office of President Trump, there is a better chance that Republicans and Democrats will work better or more collectively in a bipartisan way on the big foreign policy issues. I know they have squabbles about budgets and issues domestically, as we do here, but when it comes to important foreign policy, the narrow-minded policy of putting America first, as espoused by President Trump, should be pushed aside. That would allow America to be a great superpower again by enabling it to work collectively and closely with citizens in other blocks to build and to forge links, rather than sowing the seeds of division, which, sadly, we have seen for the past four years.