Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The other thing that was brought up by many Senators is the ugly scenes we saw in East Wall the other night. They are not unique and we have seen them in other parts of the country in recent years. Senator Ruane talked about how difficult it is to have those conversations with people you care about because there is a growing sense among people and not just those - and I do not know who they are except maybe two or three personalities who we know from the media - who we call the far right, as if there is some looming group over there. There are individuals but their sentiments are creeping into what we would call normal society. The responsibility on changing, challenging or fixing that has to be borne by all of us. I do not know how to have those conversations either, except, as Senator Ruane said, by doing so quietly with the people you love and care about. One must explain the point to them, no matter what their anger or issue is with the State or with a lack of services.Many communities have for many moons had difficulties and issues that need to be addressed. It is not the fault of the men who got off the bus in East Wall the other night, however, or the people who live in counties Sligo or Clare who have come to our shores because they flee circumstances that some of us maybe cannot even comprehend. While life is difficult in Ireland, it cannot be anything remotely as difficult as having to get on a boat or train to leave a country thousands of miles away. We all know the difficulties of some of those people who have come here. We need to challenge ourselves as to how we have that conversation to make sure the hospitality and heart we know Irish people have is maintained in our welcome.

The other main issue today was raised by Senator Buttimer. I have always been a huge fan of football. Over the last number of years, we have seen both the power and the demise of FIFA as an organisation. We have seen how men who were giants in our eyes for donkeys years have been crumbled by corruption. What I saw this week, however, was one of the weakest organisations I have ever seen. What I really do not know or understand is why. We are all well aware of the horrendous reputation of Qatar. A figure of 85% of the people who live there are immigrants, and it is not by accident. It is absolutely by design. I really do not understand how smart people who are at the top of their game managing an international sport could have allowed what happened this week to happen. Even worse to my mind is that the entire world is looking on with this elephant in the room. While we all say it is disgraceful, it will still carry on. We still have play-offs, semi-finals and great matches and festivities. In the meantime, however, people are being marginalised because of who they are and we are doing nothing about it.

One of our colleagues today spoke about the bravery of the Iranians who stood up for the people of their country yesterday. At the same time, we as a country are going to reopen our embassy in Teheran in the next couple of weeks. I really do not know what is going on in international communities when we think it is okay to reward people who have disgusting human rights records, which is exactly what we did with Qatar. Even on smaller levels, however, we all have a contribution to make. To my mind, opening our embassy in Teheran is absolutely despicable.