Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

He says it is led, in President Trump, by a nationalist who encourages us to be our worst and then tells us we are the best. It is the antithesis of a patriot who wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best. I raise this issue because I understand the Taoiseach has taken on an historian as his speech writer. The book is all about understanding and applying the lessons of history that allow us to see patterns and make judgments. It sketches for us the structures within which we can seek freedom. It permits us to be responsible, not for everything but something. He says the younger generation, to which the Taoiseach belongs, which I can say, unfortunately, has an historic responsibility to make this choice and not go down the route of nationalist politics or stick to the old inevitability but to stand up against tyranny and be courageous in doing so. The Taoiseach has a chance to be what Mr. Snyder calls the creator in a moment of history.

In March the Taoiseach said he would not invite President Trump to Ireland. He is now the leader of the country, a country that wants to stand up against the demonisation of Islam, for which President Trump stands; to stand up against his treatment of Irish emigrants who are stuck in the United States undocumented; to stand up against his repudiation of the Paris climate change agreement which forms a central part of international co-operation; and to stand up with the German Chancellor and others who say President Trump is someone who cannot be relied on. How will the Taoiseach contact the US Government about the undocumented Irish when the United States does not have an ambassador here? In so doing will he discontinue the invitation to President Trump? Will he take the lessons of history and stand up against tyranny and for all that is good in this patriotic country?

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