Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join with all of my colleagues in welcoming Senator Hackett and her family to the Chamber. I hope she enjoys her time here. She is with a good group in the Chamber. She should have spoken to us first as we would have offered better terms and conditions, but such is life.

Over the weekend, the Sunday Worldpublished an article about the repatriation of Lisa Smith and her daughter to this country, and the fact that the Irish Army Ranger Wing was involved. I am asking the Leader of the House to make a statement on this today. The release of this information during an operation, which is not yet over, was, to say the very least, poorly thought out. I am aware that the Defence Forces management is somewhat concerned about the fact that members of the Army Ranger Wing are out there at the moment, doing whatever they do, to bring this lady home.

Ms Smith will be brought home and the child who is allegedly hers will be brought with her as well. We are unsure about this because we have had no insight into what testing has taken place to establish the child's true identity. We also have a situation where the child could claim three nationalities, namely, Syrian, UK or Irish. At the end of the day, this places us in a rather precarious position. When Ms Smith returns to this country she will be a subject of interest for An Garda Síochána which is something that must concern every citizen. There is valuable information to be got on how she became radicalised and finished up where she did. I am not going to prejudge what she may or may not have been involved in as that is a matter for An Garda when she comes home. The Government, however, must get to the bottom of who released this information. It is unheard of for a military operation, which is ongoing, to be reported in the national media and possibly place the lives of people at risk.On the other side, I have to commend the Defence Forces, which are always ready and willing to do whatever is asked of them by Government.

I join with my colleagues in acknowledging the passing of Gay Byrne. All of us in this Chamber can recall, certainly from the time I was in short pants right through to the time when I lost all of my hair, that Gay Byrne influenced everything in our lives. Some of his programmes were amusing and some of them were highly serious. I would not dream of naming names or mentioning people, but he was a tremendous icon and he will be sorely missed.