Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

This is no laughing matter. We have asked for things like the progression of the Control of Economic Activities (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. It was Fianna Fáil in 2019 that brought that Bill to Second Stage in the Dáil. When introducing it, Deputy Niall Collins asked if not now, when?

What I was going to ask before the interruptions was, why we do not have the courage to go beyond ourselves? There are examples of this from the Tánaiste's own party and I was going to list a number of them. Simply standing back and using words and rhetoric and talking about peace being built on the graves of children will do nothing. There is no courage in that. The Tánaiste may smirk, smile and throw his hands up in the air but he has a position in the world. What will his memory of this be? The Irish people want us to go further than words. We can act unilaterally. If the Tánaiste does not, so be it, we will do it without him.

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