Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy seems to be a little bit obsessed with the bowl of shamrock, which takes about 20 seconds. The real opportunity is in the sit-down meeting in the Oval Office with President Biden and his team. There is also the opportunity to speak publicly in the White House before guests of the President, as well as some from the Irish embassy. That is the opportunity I will take to reaffirm the importance of our relationship with the US on economic, political and cultural levels. I will also say there are issues on which we disagree, and I will take the opportunity to do so in private and in public. It would be a mistake for any Irish Government to boycott those events. Once that slot is lost, it would be easily transferred to another country, and it might never return again. We would diminish our influence in the world if we refused to meet people and refused to engage with them, including and particularly our allies and friends, such as the US.

Before I finish up, and I will not press the Deputy on this again, nor will I press him on this later during Taoiseach’s Questions, there are a small number of Deputies in this House who have not unequivocally condemned the Hamas attack on 7 October. I again invite the Deputy, in light of the UN report, which found evidence of sexual violence-----

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