Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo the words of Senator Horkan. We have a proud tradition of welcoming leaders of other countries and if we have something to say to them, regarding human rights or anything else, we say it to them when they are here. I fully support what Senator Horkan has said.

I was one of the people who insisted yesterday that we stopped on Committee Stage of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018. That was not, in any way, to impede what the Minister is trying to do. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government gets a considerable amount of stick in the public domain. We need to look at the financial side of purchasing property for young couples in this country. I believe the Central Bank rules are too strict. There are young couples capable of paying €2,100 per month in rent who could mortgage the same property for approximately €1,400 per month. I know the Leader and his party would be interested in doing that. We need the Minister for Finance to come to the house and see what pressure can be brought to bear on the banking system to facilitate mortgages for young couples.

I have spoken previously about Jadotville, as the Leader knows. Today we read, in The Irish Times, of five men who took their own lives after returning from Jadotville.Last night, Leo Quinlan delivered his Jadotville lecture to the women graduates group at Trinity College Dublin. Afterwards, the sister of Matt Quinlan, who took his own life, read the story of Matt's life. What that man went through after he came home was absolutely earth-shattering. I have banged on and on about medals for these men, but God damn it, it is a small price to pay. Last night, at the end of Bernadette Quinlan's presentation, a very elderly man from Kilkenny walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. He was a Jadotville hero and he said: "Senator, if you do nothing else in your life, bring Quinlan home to be rested with his mother and father." He shot himself in Australia and all they have is a battered suitcase with his life's possessions in it.

Today I intend to start a campaign to bring him home. I hope Members of this House and of the Lower House will support me. It is a small price to pay for the dishonour and disservice we did to those men. I ask for any support that can be given from the Leader's side of the House. I know Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and other Independents will also look on it favourably. Anything that can be done to bring that man home to rest with his mother and father is the least we could do. I call on all in the public domain to support a call. It is a very simple campaign: bring him home.