Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to Senator Grace O'Sullivan. She will be a Senator for the remainder of the day. We all know here as a hard-working and diligent Member of Seanad Éireann. From looking at her campaign videos I did not realise what an action woman she had been over many years in advocating for environmental justice. The European Parliament will have an excellent advocate for Ireland South, as well as for the whole country of Ireland and for the planet. We need more people like the Senator in politics and we wish her the best in her endeavours.

I want to read into the record the names of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and Valeria, his 23 month old daughter. A photograph emerged of Oscar and Valeria face down in the Rio Grande in recent days, drowned in an attempt to cross the river. This is a particularly affecting photograph because it brings to light again the type of risks people are taking in order to make better lives for themselves. Oscar left Valeria on a riverbank in an attempt to go back and save his wife who was in distress. However, a current took them both and they drowned. There is a very affecting photograph which shows Valeria's 23 month old arm wrapped around her father's neck. These are people who President Trump has dismissed as animals.

We have all received invitations to the American Embassy next week to drink champagne and celebrate Independence Day on 4 July. Just like last year, we are calling for an Oireachtas boycott of this event.We do not do these things lightly but when the President of America, again with his hateful rhetoric, causes such pain and division in his own country, and he is still the international face of hate, when children are denied basic sanitary provision at the Mexican border, when they are held in what have been described as concentration camps, when one has families being broken up at the border, and then when the image emerges of Oscar and his daughter, Valeria, lying face down in water, one is reminded of what Trump has said about immigrants. He has described them in many different ways but he has used the term "animals". Therefore, it is incumbent on all of us in this House to turn down the invitation. If we really believe in equality, and we will celebrate the Pride Festival this weekend, then it would be deeply hypocritical to attend the American ambassador's reception to celebrate 4 July. Therefore, I call on all Members of this House and the Oireachtas to look at the photograph and choose not to attend the ambassador's reception next week.