Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for outlining the Government position. It is useful to have these statements here today. I will move on to the content of the Minister's contribution shortly, but I first want to point out that it is unfortunate we are not actually debating a motion today. Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil had submitted a motion that was agreed. I know the Government and most of the other parties in the Dáil - the Green Party, the Labour Party and Fine Gael - had attempted to do that in order for the Dáil to speak as one voice. I wish to put on the record that misinformation was given in the Dáil last week by Deputy Ruth Coppinger of the AAA-PBP, that it was all of us who had in some way stopped this motion being put forward. In truth it was the six AAA-PBP Members who would not agree to a cross-party motion because they felt they would reserve the right to amend the motion at any stage. That is the reality and that is why this morning we are making statements as opposed to actually dealing with a motion where the House could have spoken with one voice.

I thank the Minister for his contribution this morning and the detail therein, very little of which I would disagree with. The Government's approach to the controversy around the executive order has been very well handled and well considered. Fianna Fáil is completely opposed to the executive order that was issued by President Donald Trump, which includes the 90 day travel ban by people from seven Muslim majority countries, the 120 day freeze on admission of any refugees into the United States and an indefinite halt to admitting any refugees from Syria. As I have said, Fianna Fáil and our colleagues in Sinn Féin have put forward a detailed motion condemning the executive order and asking the Government to convey these concerns and to write formally to the US President seeking its repeal. We feel the ban is morally wrong, discriminatory and prejudiced.

While we are opposed to the executive order, we are fully committed to maintaining our pre-clearance capabilities and our diplomatic relations between Ireland and the US, and to continue in improving them. Pre-clearance, as we know, is carried out by US authorities in Dublin and Shannon airports. I am very familiar with the Dublin Airport pre-clearance facility in my constituency and the importance of it since 2009. It is of great benefit to Ireland in improving investment and travel between both countries. Nothing should be done by this House, this Government or any Member to put that facility at risk. The pre-clearance facilities, I have no doubt, underpin many hundreds, or thousands of jobs in this State and in America. Rejecting this facility, as some in this House have called for, would only serve to make travel between Ireland and the US more difficult and would be a premature reaction; it is simply a reaction from some.

Our job is to try to convince the United States and the new US Administration that we have a long-standing, friendly relationship with the US and to try to convince it, in diplomatic terms, of the error of their ways with this executive order. It is only right and proper that the Minister raised the issue at his numerous meetings. With General Michael Flynn departing the stage the Minister will have a new US Secretary of State to deal with shortly but it is important that we do speak loudly, in a respectful way, as friends to the United States. When we do not agree with something we should say it. I am glad the Minister has done so in Washington, DC at various high level meetings. I ask the Taoiseach - directly through the Minister - that in his discussions with President Trump on St. Patrick's Day the matter is raised directly with him and not just with his officials. It is important. Our deep relationship with America is longstanding and unique. Many people claim unique relations with countries and I believe that the Ireland-America relationship is unique and America will know that Ireland's views, and any criticisms that we have, are meant in the best possible way.

While the travel ban has been suspended and overturned in courts in the United States, we should also mention to the US Administration that as it is party to the Geneva Convention we believe that the ban, refusing entry and sending people back, contravenes Article 33 of the Geneva Convention that says: "No Contracting State shall expel or return ... a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his or her life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion." That is very clear and it is why I do not believe that the executive order stacks up in US law or international law.

There was much debate, as the Minister has alluded to, as to whether or not the Taoiseach should still travel to the White House on St. Patrick's Day and I want it on the record of the House that Fianna Fáil firmly believes the Taoiseach should travel to the White House on St. Patrick's Day. This visit is more than a photo opportunity, as some people feel. It is an opportunity to meet and engage with the new US President and his Administration and it is of major strategic importance to Ireland. Maintaining professional relationships with the governments of other countries is central to Ireland's industrial, cultural, economic and diplomatic policies. The upcoming visit to Washington, DC should be used as an opportunity to press President Trump on the plight of the undocumented Irish people in the US. The visit can be used to explain in clear terms the mutual advantage to both our countries of the presence of US companies operating in Ireland, employing thousands of people here and - as the Minister has outlined - of Irish companies operating in the United States that employ thousands of US citizens in America. This is the type of partnership relationship that I would like to see us evolve further. It is not us, as a junior partner in a relationship, asking the United States. I believe that Ireland, with Irish companies in the US, is the 11th biggest investor in the United States and we are also a significant market for the US. Ireland is a significant springboard for the US into the European Union. That partnership approach into the future is the way we should be dealing with and working with the new US Administration. When people are partners and adult it means that we can criticise each other and say when it is that we are not happy or when we believe an administration is going down the wrong road, as it is now with this executive order. Can one imagine the reaction in America, and what an insult it would be, if this Government and the Taoiseach actually followed the line that some Members of this House wanted, by refusing the invitation and by not travelling to Washington on St. Patrick's Day? Maybe people want it to be an insult to President Trump, and I personally would not agree with many of his policies-----

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