Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately we are in a very scary world where might is right. It can seem like reading the history of imperial power plays from the 1700s. There is slaughter in Sudan and Gaza and Russian attempts to make major military inroads to deliver a one-sided peace. There has been engagement by the US Administration which can at very best be described as unhelpful, although I have many other words for it, as will others, in particular the talk of the Gaza Riviera which means nothing but genocide. Unfortunately, it gives cover to those who are even further to the right of Benjamin Netanyahu, a man who seems wholly committed to keeping this war going with a view to maintaining his career. That is one of the most sickening parts of all of this. It does not help world stability in any way.

There is the issue of tariffs and now great instability for global business. I agree with some of what was said earlier about major corporations and how we will not see them leave in their droves in quick time. We are talking about major operations with a requirement to maintain a connection with the European market and they are facilitated by many of the positives that have existed in this State. We have huge issues we need to deal with ourselves alongside the fact that there needs to be trade engagement and engagement at every level with the American Administration and others. We need to work alongside our European partners in delivering for the Irish people and for the businesses and jobs we are talking about. However, we must deal with the absolute disaster that is the housing crisis which IBEC and others note is impacting on business. We must also deal with the underlying infrastructural issues from water right through to the grid and power capacity.

In Dundalk, we would like to see the delivery of a college of the future. Much good work has been done around the advanced manufacturing centre training of excellence and huge work is being done in the regional development centre in DKIT. These are real positives when it comes to connections with business but far more needs to be done in relation to what we can do for our SME sector. A great deal of effort has to be put into protecting what we have. There will be support in relation to engagement.

We all know the hybrid threats we are talking about. There is the tech sector and the undersea cables. They are not only our cables. I accept we need to make sure we have capacity. We must deal with the underfunding of our Defence Forces. That does not mean we move away from Ireland’s independent foreign policy. We must respect the sacrifices made by those such as Private Michael McNeela and Private Sean Rooney. There must be further engagement with the UN on the information that must be provided to the coroner, the State and the family in the case of Sean Rooney.

If speaking about Gaza and genocide, Francesca Albanese put it absolutely straight. We are talking about the acceleration of a total destruction of life in Gaza. We know what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank. We need to do what we can. Israel needs to feel that it is a pariah state. That is the only weapon we have. We are talking about the occupied territories Bill and not a yellow-pack version. We need to see delivery of that. We talk about the humanitarian clauses in the EU-Israel Association Agreement but we need to see action. There are many other issues which I could raise at this time but I am over time.

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