Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak on the US presidential election result, which I watched as it unfolded very late last night. What struck me is that it is almost a carbon copy of Brexit. Obviously, I wish to congratulate President-elect Trump. The American people have spoken. I also want to commiserate with Hillary Clinton. The Clintons have been very good friends to Ireland.

We have a new president-elect in place. It is important that Ireland protects its interests and works with President-elect Trump. I note the Taoiseach has stated there will be continued bilateral relations and that we will have discussions around the issues of trade and immigration reform for the undocumented Irish. At this moment in time, Hillary Clinton is winning the popular vote yet almost all of mid-America voted Republican. I believe there is a disconnect between much of the electorate and the political system. This is something we must take on board, as a country, in order to address those concerns.

Donald Trump wrote a book called The Art of the Deal. We had a prominent American in the House recently. I feel that Trump will probably end up being a very pragmatic politician. It is about the art of the deal. However, we have woken up today to the reality that the American people have spoken. Regardless of what people think, we need to deal with that issue but we must also reflect on the point that this is virtually a carbon copy of Brexit. There are issues that reflect back to some of the electorate here in Ireland and there are concerns. There is a lesson in this for everyone.

It is important to note that Donald Trump has business interests in Ireland.The Vice President-elect, Mike Pence, is an Irish-American. We have to deal with the reality we woke up to today that the Republicans and Donald Trump will take up power and we have to deal with them in the best interests of Ireland.