Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

First, on behalf of the Labour Party, I wish to join the Tánaiste in offering sympathies on the loss of Brendan Daly, the Tánaiste's former colleague, to his family and community. I also offer my deep sympathies to the families, friends and all those affected by the tragic deaths of Andrew O’Donnell and Max Wall in Ios last weekend. The devastating losses of these two boys who had just finished the leaving certificate examination at St. Michael's College, Ballsbridge, has impacted so many. I offer my sympathies in particular to the school community at St. Michael's College, where I attended a memorial service last night for the two boys. We saw an immense outpouring of grief and support for the families and friends of the boys. It was especially poignant as it took place in the same chapel where they had their graduation ceremony just six weeks ago. I offer sincere condolences to the O’Donnell and Wall families and all affected. The Tánaiste's Department has been to the fore and has been working hard to support the families and all those other students in Ios at the same time. Last night, school principal, Tim Kelleher, gave particular thanks to Department of Foreign Affairs staff.

I also wish to join the welcome to the Palestinian ambassador, H.E. Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid. It has been my pleasure to meet the ambassador on several occasions. I join others in calling for stronger leadership from Ireland on solidarity with the people of Palestine, in particular this week, following the horrific actions of the Israel Defense Forces in Jenin. Several of us raised this issue earlier this week. I reiterate my calls for the Government to seek to pass the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, for which there is cross-party support.

I wish also to refer to another issue related to the Tánaiste's ministerial brief. The Women of Honour group expressed serious concern about the plans for the Government’s statutory inquiry to investigate allegations of sexual assault, discrimination, harassment and bullying of women in the Defence Forces, brought forward, courageously, by the members of the group. They say they cannot support what they see as a grossly inadequate inquiry with deeply flawed terms of reference. I understand the Tánaiste will meet the group today at 5 p.m. in advance of bringing forward proposals for the inquiry to Cabinet next week. We welcome the Government's commitment to holding a statutory inquiry. I ask that the Tánaiste take on board the concerns expressed by the group and that the Government moves swiftly to establish a tribunal of inquiry based on the proposed terms of reference the Women of Honour drafted. The group is anxious to ensure that the terms include an investigation into the workplace culture pertaining in the Defence Forces. It is a key issue because, as the Labour Party defence spokesperson, Senator Wall, said, the Defence Forces are in crisis following years of neglect and there is a recruitment and retention crisis, in particular. To address that, we must ensure we are addressing the toxic culture which the allegations from Women of Honour uncovered. I ask the Tánaiste if he accepts that the calls of the Women of Honour must be heeded as part of an overall response to the recruitment and retention issues plaguing our Defence Forces today.

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