Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Leas-Chathaoirleach would be an excellent adjudicator in any performance that might take place.

I endorse the comments of my constituency colleague and good friend, Senator O'Reilly, regarding a debate on Northern Ireland. That should be a rolling debate. Senator Humphreys raised an important issue that affects ordinary people who took out a mortgage, bought a property that had been signed off on by various regulators, architects, etc. and now find themselves in serious difficulties and having to come up with money they do not have to remedy the difficulties. We should focus on the insurance companies that insure these building firms which built these buildings that turn out to be unsatisfactory. I always believed that we neglected the people of this country by not pursuing the insurance companies that insure the banks and the auditors who signed off on fraudulent banks in this country. They are the people who should have been pursued for the money that was outstanding.

On the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley, I accept what Senator Conway has said that she has apologised profoundly for her comments but it is not good enough. She is the Secretary of State responsible for the province that has been occupied, the Six Counties of this country, and the onus is on her to know the people and the situations she is dealing with in that territory. Considering that she did not know, and the fact she was unaware inquiries had been set up by her Government, some of which are ongoing and which she may have been prejudiced, it is time she resigned and gave the job to somebody who is capable of doing it.

All unlawful killing is wrong. I would go so far as to say that all killing is wrong, whether lawful in the eyes of some, but during guerilla warfare there is a particular onus on the supposed professional soldiers to follow orders. If they are following orders, it is the people who gave those orders who should be before the courts, not the ordinary soldiers.