Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, to consider the results of the recent UK elections. I would particularly like to discuss the matter of the Sinn Féin candidate in the north Belfast constituency who sent out election leaflets stating that Catholics are now in a majority in the constituency, with Catholics at 46.9% and Protestants at 45.6%, and suggesting that people make change and make history. Have we learned nothing? Is this what it means to be an Irish republican? What about the ideals of Wolfe Tone with regard to the unity of Catholic, Protestant and dissenter, or the ideals of the Proclamation, cherishing all the children of the nation equally? To add insult to injury, the Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure tried to justify the remarks. At least, a former chairman of Sinn Féin at Queens University Belfast was brave enough to state that it was an absolute disgrace and the very antithesis of what republicanism represents.