Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of my Independent colleagues, I pay tribute to Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and offer condolences to his family and friends. Mícheál's love and enthusiasm for music was infectious and he can rightly be placed alongside Seán Ó Riada, George Martin and all the other great musicians. When people saw him sitting down at the keyboard, they felt like going to a keyboard themselves, his enthusiasm was so infectious.

I pay tribute to the Ceann Comhairle for his organisation of the meeting and dinner last night with leaders of the Traveller community, at which I was delighted to represent the Independent group. It was a very important initiative and the Ceann Comhairle deserves great credit as chairperson of the House.

I would like to discuss the issue of Ireland's support for a UN parliamentary assembly. The Tánaiste will be aware that this week elected representatives from around the globe, excluding elected representatives of dictatorships, called for the support of Ireland and the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, for the establishment of a parliamentary assembly tier to the United Nations. There is great frustration in regard to how large powers and dictatorships can dominate on issues like Yemen, Syria, Iraq and so on and the view is that if we had elected members at some level, it would help. Will the Tánaiste push for the establishment of a parliamentary assembly during his tenure in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade?

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