Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Senator Ruane got in ahead of me, but I also want to respond to Senator Craughwell's remarks.The Senator is entitled to say what he thinks. I have heard some patriarchal and patronising comment in this Chamber over the years, but I raise the Senator's contribution in particular because he lauds his previous role as a representative of a teaching union. What does he think we should be teaching children? Is it to be slaves and not to think independently or be active? I adhere to the school of thought that empowering and enfranchising young people is positive. Pádraig Pearse, in his innovative and pioneering essay on education, The Murder Machine, wrote that one never lowers oneself to the level of a child but one should always raise oneself to the level of a child. With the example of Greta Thunberg, we could collectively seek to raise ourselves to the level of that child and what she is doing for the world.

I also raise an issue that featured last week at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality and features again in the media today. I call on the Minister for Justice and Equality to come to the House to address the evident increase in immigration checks along Britain's border in Ireland. I have noticed and raised anecdotally in the House previously the number of checks being carried out on public transport, particularly close to Dundalk. The Committee on the Administration of Justice, CAJ, in the North and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, in the South have raised very real concerns and fears about the potential for racial profiling people travelling on buses. The Garda appears to be carrying out immigration checks. The CAJ and ICCL are deeply concerned and ask under what legislation these checks are being carried given that there is a common travel area and other arrangements in place.

Furthermore, what concerns me and should concern us as a society is that gardaí are boarding buses and asking some people for their passports and papers but not others. If I am asked to show my passport on a bus, I am not compelled to produce it. Other people are being asked for passports. That leaves the Garda, and us, on very questionable and shaky ethical and legal ground. There is merit in having the Minister come to the House given the broader context of fears about checks on the Border and the relocation of armed response units by the Garda to areas along the Border. Brexit or no Brexit, it seems to me and to many others, including very reputable human rights advocacy groups, that if one is an immigrant, one is already faced with a hard border in the here and now. That should be a concern for us all and I ask the Minister to come to the House to address it.