Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----the ambassador and all our visitors to the Gallery. Above all, it is right and appropriate that I extend the heartiest welcome to the Governor of what many consider Ireland's 33rd county - the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Through the Governor's politics, work and activism, she has come to represent a great value that Irish people know intimately, namely, that the citizen is sovereign. No matter citizens' background, identity, gender, sexual orientation, the language they speak or their political aspirations, they deserve to live in a free, equal, just and environmentally sustainable world. Crucially, the Governor also reminded us in her remarks that every human has value and worth, and should be afforded dignity, shelter, protection, support and solidarity. As a nation, we know this only too well or, rather, we should know these sentiments all too well.

I speak as a citizen of Belfast, Ireland's second city and Boston's sister city. It is also a city where I met Joe Kennedy just last week, where he is leading very important work in seeking to deliver investment and prosperity across my city and throughout the North. We all wish him well in those important endeavours. Belfast is a city that has changed dramatically from the days when senators and representatives from Massachusetts took pioneering visits there, and to and other places throughout the North, to help the burgeoning peace and political process. We thank them for that retrospective and historic solidarity and support, but we are also very conscious of the continued support from places such as Massachusetts and right across America against the threats posed to Ireland as a result of a disastrous Brexit, the harm it has caused to our economies North and South, and the political instability that it led to. We are thankful to President Biden, which gratitude we got the opportunity to express during his historic visit to the Oireachtas not that long ago. I am sure all colleagues right across the House ask for that continued solidarity and support that the Governor so positively expressed today. It is not all historic. It is live and is appreciated too.

I will reflect on the issue of the diaspora. On many occasions, not just during the Governor's visit, we have looked back at the historic links and the importance of our diaspora. It is only right that we lift up and celebrate people such as Ronnie Millar, about whom she spoke. It is important that we as a people here in Ireland do not just ask of our diaspora but seek to give back to it in this changed dynamic. That change has been brought about, not least, by the pioneering endeavours of our family around the world. In my time in the House, I have championed the right of our diaspora to vote in presidential elections. That would be a tangible and much-valued expression of a connection to home for our diaspora, whether they are in Massachusetts or anywhere else around the world.I hope I will get an opportunity to speak to the governor later about that. I join my colleagues in wishing her well and congratulating her on a historic political achievement. I am sure she is conscious that it is still early days for her as governor and there is much more that she wants to achieve. We wish her well in achieving that.