Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Seanadóir Hackett fosta. I acknowledge and thank colleagues for their solidarity and support for our colleague, Deputy Martin Kenny. Deputy Martin Kenny will not be deterred by this, as troubling and concerning as it is. While I disagree with a lot of the sentiment expressed by Senator McDowell, I agree with him in that I want to have the debate about direct provision. I want to have the debate about the failure to deal with the facilities, the processes, the needs and the care that are required by the people who are coming to this State to seek refuge. I want to talk about the rise of the right in this State. I want to talk about how it is able to exploit the economic, ideology-driven decisions that are causing poverty and deprivation in this State, which is ripe and fertile ground for the right to exploit. I want to talk about that in the course of that debate.

I also want to talk about what Senator Gavan said about the use of Shannon Airport to displace a lot of these people from the Middle East. I want to talk about why the Irish Defence Forces are moving from search and rescue work in the Mediterranean and drifting ever closer towards participating in a European army. I want to talk about all of that in the round and I want to particularly afford everybody in this House the opportunity to take a stand, like Deputy Martin Kenny, in support of people who are vulnerable and who are coming to this State to flee some of the awful devastation being inflicted upon people around the world, much of it via Shannon Airport, to our shame.

I want to commend the latest initiative from Ireland's Future yesterday. Over 1,000 signatories from the civic world, political life, academia, the arts and sport came together, in this State this time, to respectfully ask the Government to prepare for new constitutional horizons and not to fall into the Brexit trap of constitutional change coming about in an ill-prepared or ill-informed manner. It is a responsible and prudent call and it is the right thing to do. It is a conversation within broader Irish life that mirrors the conversations that are happening in board rooms, club rooms and even in this Chamber on occasion, that identify the real need to have an inclusive, engaged and informed conversation about where we want to be. The Constitution compels us to do that and the Good Friday Agreement allows us and affords us the opportunity to deliver that for people. Tús maith leath na hoibre, a good start is half the work. I want today to reiterate that call from Ireland's Future through the Leader. It was yet another impressive initiative calling on the Government to get ready.