Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I had intended to speak on one matter, but I will first touch on the issue of housing raised by Senator Ardagh. When the Minister of State, Deputy English, took my Commencement matter on the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, this morning, he stated that he would this week announce a second round. That is positive news and should be acknowledged. In conjunction with local authority funding, it will fund the building of affordable housing on State lands, be they owned by State agencies or one of the 31 local authorities. Once the second round is unveiled in the coming days, it might be a good time to have the Minister explain the situation in the House.

Listening to the commentary about Pope Francis's visit to Ireland, I have been disturbed by a small, but intolerant, group of people who have some difficulty with someone as superior as the Pope, who represents people.I respect Pope Francis as I respect Queen Elizabeth, the Dalai Lama or anybody else who represents people. As I was coming in here this morning, I asked myself what my purpose is. I would like to think that one of the purposes I have is to be an advocate and a conduit for people and that I can come in here and speak in our national Parliament. It is a sad day that we allow people to go our airwaves and vent anger and hatred towards any leader. I respect that people have the right to hold their own views and that is fair enough. We live in a democracy but more importantly we live in a republic. We are proud of our republic and we have a Constitution. The Pope has been invited by the Government and people of this country so I would like to think we would extend him a céad míle fáilte, many welcomes. It is about respect for diversity and difference. That is what this country is all about and we have celebrated our own history and conflicts many times. I could not let today go without saying that it is important that people have rights and that are entitled to be angry over issues that have affected them or their families but let us not lose sight of the bigger picture. We live in a republic and we welcome everyone, including dissenters, as guests of our nation and of our people. We should be mindful of that as advocates for democracy who are elected to Parliament in a republic.