Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second the request by my colleague, Senator Freeman, for the Minister for Health to be brought here at his earliest convenience to discuss the cuts to the budgeted figure for mental health. Mental health problems are a plague in this country, and we must do something about them.

I had other things to say but I am afraid I cannot let the statements made by Senator Ó Ríordáin and my colleague, Senator Ned O'Sullivan, go unchallenged. We are standing in the heart and soul of democracy in this room. I congratulated Donald Trump yesterday and qualified it by saying we are now in the middle of a perfect storm. Donald Trump was elected by the people of the United States. A total of 4% of the black women, 26% of the Latino women and 52% of the white women of America voted for Donald Trump. What right has anybody in this room to criticise the democratic choice of another country?