Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I deplore the separation of immigrant children from their parents. That goes against the grain of humane behaviour. I would not condone it and I deplore it. We are depending on the same government led by President Trump to be lenient with Irish immigrants to the US who have played a major part in building America since the 1700s when many of our forefathers went there on the coffin ships in the hope that they would survive. Many of them lived and they played a great part in building that great country, the United States. We all have relatives there today. We appeal to President Trump to be lenient with illegal immigrants from Ireland who continue to work there. We hope they will be provided with some mechanism to allow them to come home for weddings and funerals, as it breaks their hearts when they miss such events. They cannot come back here, because if they did, they could not go back to their jobs again. We hope President Trump will do something for them.

There has been much bashing of President Trump since his election, although many people voted for him. He has played a vital role in neutralising Korea. A few of our Ministers wanted to go there to sort it out but perhaps they will stay at home and do something here instead. It appears that President Trump has alleviated that threat to world peace. We must give him a chance in that regard. We appeal to him not to separate children from their parents.

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