Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The greatest honour of my political life was to be asked to give the oration commemorating Tom Barry's final battle with the British Army in County Cork. It is fascinating to note that Tom Barry would not have led that successful ambush if he had not fought in the First World War and learned battle tactics in Mesopotamia, as Iraq was known at the time.

I and my colleagues in the Fianna Fáil Party look forward to the celebration of the 1916 Rising. I am privileged to have been nominated by party leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, to serve on the committee on commemorations established by the Taoiseach. We will continue to take on the revisionist and derogatory comments that are made about people who laid down their lives with bravery and without fear. I assure Senators that Fianna Fáil is the true republican party.