Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Bastille Day commemorates a transformative moment in modern history. Each year, the French people remember that true citizenship was not always automatic and that France is now a united country. Last week, the peaceful celebration of national unity and identity was torn apart in the city of Nice.

Eighty-four people, including children, died on a day that should have contained only joy. Hundreds more were injured and continue to suffer. Our sympathies are with those who were hurt and those who were injured, and with their families, all their friends and the entire French people at home and away.

We know that the unity of the French nation will stand firm in the face of this act of barbarism. Five days ago, terror briefly replaced joy. Once more, our neighbours were attacked. What our President has referred to as cowardly, cold-blooded attacks have fuelled fears in France and across Europe. These are assaults on our way of life, on our core values. They are aimed at our liberty, our freedom, our democracy, but they will not work because, in the face of such attacks, we stand together in solidarity. France’s values are our values. The three days of national mourning in France have now come to an end. France lifts its head and looks once more, hopefully, to a better, brighter future, and Ireland and all the Irish people stand with her. On behalf of the Labour Party I send my condolences and our solidarity to all those so cruelly affected.

See this speech in context