Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have been asked what our contribution to the debate is, and it has been in tabling these amendments in the names of the families in Donegal and the other affected areas. None of the Sinn Féin Seanadóirí is from Donegal, yet I believe we are reflecting the will of the people there by tabling these amendments, and I cannot understand why anyone would oppose them. I will have to check the record, but I think there may have been another admission in Senator Blaney's contribution indicating this is not a 100% redress scheme. Senator Keogan has thrown quite a bit of plámás at the families and asked us not to play politics, but this is political. The decision not to make this scheme 100% redress is political. We are political people and we come in here to engage in politics. I am unashamed that my party colleagues, Senators Boylan and Gavan, have been in here trying to make politics work for these families. I do not want to be branded as playing politics to try to diminish what we are trying to do by throwing that cliché at us. The Government and its Senators have taken a political decision. While Senator Keogan is correct that there are other schemes, she admits, understandably, that they are cumbersome. They are, but it is even more cumbersome when people's houses are crumbling down around them. I am not trying to get into a ding-dong with her, but it is important to put that on record.