Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We now have a racist, sexist, bigoted billionaire in the White House or at least he will be in the White House from the start of the new year. I listened to the Taoiseach's comments today on that issue. He pointed to the acceptance speech made by Donald Trump this morning and expressed the hope that Donald Trump will heal divisions in US society. The Taoiseach has indicated it will be business as usual between the Irish Government and the US Administration.

The Taoiseach might be the only person in the country who believes that Donald Trump is going to heal divisions in US society. He might be the only person in the country who puts great faith and stock in Donald Trump’s words this morning. I remind the Taoiseach that this is a man who has spoken of 11 million deportations from the United States over the coming period.

There are some points to be made about the idea that it is business as usual. The Taoiseach congratulated President-elect Trump. He said that, on behalf of the Government and the people of Ireland, he was pleased to offer our sincere congratulations to Donald J. Trump on his election as the 45th President of the United States. Those sentiments were echoed by the leader of Fianna Fáil. They were added to by a former leader of Fianna Fáil who said we needed to get into a love-in with the new US Administration.

They have also been echoed by Deputy Gerry Adams. Sinn Féin projects itself as a radical left-wing party. I doubt very much if the leader of any other party anywhere in Europe or in the world, which projects itself as radical left-wing, will be standing up today in their parliaments offering congratulations to Donald J. Trump. Deputy Gerry Adams should not be offering congratulations to Donald Trump. Many of his supporters will feel he should not be doing so either.

The Taoiseach said he is offering congratulations on behalf of the people of Ireland. He is not offering them in my name or in the name of AAA-PBP. I am sure many people will support me on this. Instead, the message we would like to project today is one for ordinary American people. It is for those who are facing mass deportations, those LGBTQ, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer, people facing attacks on their rights, and those working people who are facing attacks from an extremely right-wing administration. We call on those working people, those immigrant communities and those minorities to resist these policies. We offer our support to those communities and to the resistance that is organised.

Earlier, Deputy Ruth Coppinger drew some comparisons between the policies of the Government and the leader of the new US administration. I would like to make several other comparisons. Mr. Trump has spoken about putting up a wall between the United States and Mexico to stop immigration. There has been a certain amount of tut-tutting in the political establishment in Ireland and Europe about this and the naked way in which those points were explained by Mr. Trump at his rallies. Is there a significant difference between Europe and him? We have a fortress Europe policy in operation in the European Union. We have a policy being implemented in the Mediterranean of physically blocking, stopping and preventing migrants attempting to come to Europe from getting to Europe. Large numbers of migrant men, women and children have drowned as a result of that. Is there a big difference in reality?

Mr. Trump has spoken about punishing women who procure abortions in US states where abortion is not legal. He was forced to qualify his comments when there was a storm of opposition to them. However, he said it while the Administration in this country has actually done it in law. A Bill passed in the lifetime of the last Parliament means that a woman who procures an illegal abortion in this State can, under Irish law as it stands, face a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

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