John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am speaking to amendments Nos. 2 and 3. Some in the House this evening would lead us to believe this is a mundane and simple piece of house-tidying legislation, but it goes much further than that because this is about national interest and our sovereignty. It is about doing something this State has failed to do, which is to lay claim to a critical piece of our heritage, an important piece of our seas and our territory, namely, Rockall. This is an attempt to disguise the Government's intent to put its 2014 betrayal of Ireland's interests into law under this Bill. That agreement was obscured from public scrutiny to hide the shame of the Government at its wanton betrayal of Irish interests. Many legal views have been articulated many times about the 2014 agreement between the then Minister, Eamon Gilmore, and the British ambassador, Dominick Chilcott, stating it was unconstitutional. There was no scrutiny or debate on the agreement and it was totally undemocratic. That agreement spoke to 19th or early 20th century colonial forces sitting down and drawing lines on maps at the expense of native peoples. That is essentially what happened here but this is the 21st century and we are a proud sovereign people.

The British first laid claim to Rockall in 1955 on the basis it was on a flight plan of nuclear weapons. That was the sole intent at that stage for laying claim to it but, unfortunately, successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments failed to offer an Irish counterclaim to that claim by the British. As the British hoisted up their Union Jack, this Government and previous governments were busy hoisting up the white flag and ceding our sovereignty and our control over what is Irish. In the 1970s, Garrett FitzGerald effectively conceded sovereignty to the British, stating the Irish position was that British claims had no consequence on maritime jurisdiction, while Fianna Fáil obliged by doing what it does best and stood idly by. Things have changed fundamentally-----

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