Dr. Rosaleen McDonagh:

It is very hard to follow what you said and I do not feel I should. However, this morning on "Morning Ireland", they talked about a young man in Limerick who had beaten, a young Brazilian man. Recently, they talked about the man from Croatia. Although there is no hierarchy, and I mean no disrespect to the presenters, they spoke as if racism was a new phenomenon in Ireland. While we all offer sympathy and solidarity to those two young men, yesterday near Mountjoy Square, I saw two Roma women and two girls, probably between the ages of 11 and 15, being verbally abused and almost physically abused and two other women, who I presume were settled Irish, had to intervene and call An Garda Síochána.

There is not much more I can say that has not been said already on this momentous day. As an older Traveller, I commend and congratulate people on the quality of some of the inputs from very young Travellers. They were incredible and not just insightful or political. Some of them were really sensitive and that pays tribute to the kind of people we are.

The Cathaoirleach spoke about being worn out and jaded. Over lunch, I spoke with Ms Burke and Ms O'Donoghue from Cork. We are all middle-aged women and it is very hard to tell the same story with new words.

As a playwright, my job is to witness, observe and document. Each time you sit down to write a new play, you are still playing with the small old tropes of racism and the discrimination. While some of us are lucky enough to move up to the echelons of academia, arts, and business, it is not enough just to have one or two of us. There needs to be more.

In closing, I wish to say that we are very proud of the Cathaoirleach. From one woman to another, I am very proud. When I see the Cathaoirleach sitting there running the show, I think she is one of us. She managed to pull all this together. I thank the Cathaoirleach.