Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Indeed. I was curious why, in response to the much more sane and sensible comments of Mr. Jeremy Corbyn, often accused of being a radical firebrand of the left, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, was less than enthusiastic about those comments but suggested words to the effect that the Labour Party in Britain had its own problems. It seemed to be an implied dig at Mr. Corbyn's left wing policies when in fact he is leading the fight against the buffoonery of Mr. Johnson and indeed the anti-immigrant sentiment the most right wing element of the Tory Brexiteers are promoting.

When we talk of the political logjam in the North itself, much of the commentary on the political paralysis of the institutions does not actually delve deep into the issues at stake. It might be helpful in beginning to unlock the situation up there to talk about the actual issues at stake. Why is the Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, resisting any kind of agreement to restore the institutions? It is because it does not want marriage equality or an Irish language Act, both things which people down here should support because they are about equality. The DUP also does not want things like the extension of the 1967 abortion legislation.

If we get repeal, and this is a question to Sinn Féin as well, which is rightly promoting Irish language rights and marriage equality as part of the discussion, although the DUP are resisting these things, should we not also be talking about a new civil rights movement to campaign for equality on those issues and on the issue of abortion rights? We may have a situation in a few months' time where we have won the right to abortion for Irish women down here but when one crosses the Border into the North that right will still be denied to women in the North and nobody is talking about it.

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