Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----is something to behold. I wish we could have a little of that down here.

I am looking at the Lord Mayor's manifesto and I am particularly struck by her interest in women's needs and the desire to ensure the health of women in a just society and encouraging trust of women. I am particularly concerned about the mental health of women from the distant past on all sides of the traditions in Northern Ireland. Siobhán Fenton wrote an excellent book, which I read during the summer, on the Good Friday Agreement. One of the areas she said has yet to be dealt with is the mental health issues of women in particular who were victims of the Troubles. In welcoming the Lord Mayor to Dublin, I ask that she would make that a special interest across all communities. There were women who suffered badly through no fault of their own and I ask her to take that issue on board.

On same-sex marriage, I learned recently on a visit to Northern Ireland that across the community, up to the age of 40 or 45, nobody seems to have a problem with same-sex marriage. I ask the Lord Mayor to keep that wheel moving in the direction in which it is going. Nobody died in this part of the jurisdiction when we brought in marriage equality, and it brought great happiness to families that had been waiting years to see relationships between their children regularised in a proper marital relationship. I am delighted to see that, and I know the Leader, who is in the Chamber, can speak for that also.

Irish-language rights is an issue that confuses me greatly. Linda Ervine is doing tremendous work in Northern Ireland in terms of the teaching and understanding of the Irish language. I had great pleasure visiting her centre earlier in the year. I will be honest and say I was somewhat embarrassed that my level of Irish was not sufficiently good to communicate with the people in that centre. The Irish language is the property of the people of Ireland, not any particular jurisdiction, religion or group. It belongs to all of us. It is part of our heritage, but I recognise that Scots Gaelic is also part of the heritage of Northern Ireland and recognising that is extremely important. I commend the Lord Mayor on wanting to bring the language forward.

I am somewhat dismayed at the lack of an assembly in Northern Ireland. We need an assembly to come together and if there is anything the Lord Mayor can do, as a senior member of the Sinn Féin Party, to ensure that happens, I would ask her to do that.

I acknowledge her interest in the rights of Travellers. My colleague, Senator Ruane, and her colleagues in the Civic Engagement group are working to bring forward a Bill to ensure that Traveller culture is brought into the syllabus of the Irish education system.

On workers' rights, I come from a trade union background and, unfortunately, the zero-hours contract is the latent aspect of what was very positive legislation from Europe. We see workers in all jurisdictions being crucified with zero-hours contracts. They must sit at home and wait for the phone to ring. I commend the Lord Mayor on taking that as one of her manifesto issues and sincerely hope she will have success in ending this curse of the exploitation of workers in all areas of this country, not just in the North of Ireland.

On the right to housing, the Lord Mayor stated there are 10,000 people in Belfast waiting for a house. One person in Belfast waiting for a house is a tragedy; 10,000 is unacceptable. We have the same problem at this end.

On class-based disadvantage, I did not start out with a silver spoon in my mouth. We have worked hard in this part of the world to end class-based disadvantage. Sadly, it is a feature of life on the island of Ireland, not just in the North, and it is an issue on which we must work hard.

On Brexit, none of us on this island wants Brexit. I wrote an article the day after the referendum advising that there will be a need to manage a border on this island. I know that is repugnant to the Lord Mayor and to anybody who wants free travel in this country. I want that, but I cannot see any way a third country will have an open border with the European Union and until such time as I am convinced otherwise, that will remain my view. For that reason alone, it is vitally important that the Lord Mayor is in the Seanad today and that she maintains relationships with all the mayors in the Republic and in the North of Ireland. Brexit is the one issue that can tear this island apart again and bring us back to times none of us wants to revisit. I ask the Lord Mayor to do everything she can to ensure that, irrespective of whether it is a hard, soft or any other kind of Brexit, whatever else we do, we maintain our relationships and continue to work together to try to understand each other better.

I welcome the Lord Mayor to Dublin and thank her for her time.