Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste to the House and thank him for giving us the opportunity to debate Brexit preparedness with him. I begin, as others have done, by condemning outright the dreadful car bomb in Derry and commend the prompt action of the PSNI which had already started evacuation before the warning was even received and whose actions clearly averted what could have been terrible tragedy.

I also wish to refer to yesterday's impressive and dignified ceremony in the Mansion House where we had our joint sitting of the Dáil and Seanad and we were addressed by the President. The ceremony was conducted with such dignity, in such an appropriate fashion and with such respect for different traditions on the island. It was in contrast to the shambles we have seen in Westminster and in the shambolic type of debates there. Our Oireachtas proceedings are conducted with more decorum and with more respect for the views of others. It is quite distressing sometimes to watch the jeering and sneering that goes on in the House of Commons about such a serious issue as this, and to see a gendered, almost public schoolboy style of debate being used. That is most unfortunate. I speak as somebody who lived in London for many years and who was born there to Irish parents. I love the place. It is unfortunate that the Brexit debate has brought out the worst in British politics.

We have also seen ironies and contradictions in the Brexit debate and the general political discourse on Brexit in Britain, not least of which is the irony that London, one of the most ethnically diverse places in Britain, voted so strongly to remain, as did Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is most ironic that the DUP purports to represent the people of Northern Ireland-----