Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support what my colleague, Senator Hopkins, said about a house. The family concerned did a huge amount of work with the local authorities to save the house from being flooded but it is now in no-man's land, for want of a better word. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, or the Minister should come in here to outline what will be done. The Minister is working hard around the country but the Minister must intervene on this occasion and do the right thing.

I support my colleague, Senator Craughwell.We are in a very difficult situation. I go back and forth to Westminster and there is an Irish voice lacking there. There is a huge Irish caucus in Westminster and we are working closely with an MP called Conor McGinn who is from Crossmaglen and whose father was a Sinn Féin councillor. He is an MP for St Helens North and chair of the all-party Irish in Britain group. We are lacking a nationalist voice in a Parliament that needs it. Sinn Féin has its own views but in 1997 there was an abstentionist policy in respect of the Dáil. There was an abstentionist policy or boycott of Stormont. Sinn Féin members changed their minds then. It is up to its members but I really think it is in the interests of the Irish people and the island of Ireland and could be of huge benefit. Sinn Féin has changed its mind twice already on it. We are allowing militant unionism to have that say in a Parliament that we should really be using. It is up to Sinn Féin, of course.

There is great goodwill in Westminster towards the island of Ireland on which we need to work. We are missing a nationalist voice because the SDLP is not sitting there. I know the work it has done. It has articulated the needs of the Irish in Britain and of nationalism in Northern Ireland. Those who get elected and do not use that voice are allowing somebody else to fill the vacuum. Sinn Féin changed its mind when it came to Stormont and Dáil Éireann.