Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Governor Healey. It is a mutually emotional moment any time we have somebody here with us to speak about their connection to our country. As the Governor outlined, it is the same in return. In September next, I will have members of my family, my own mini-diaspora, coming back to Ireland, from Australia, Canada and the US. This will give us an opportunity to visit places I have not been to before, some of my family's ancestral homes in Ireland. Sometimes we have to be reminded of our own family and own values. We can become tied up and busy with just getting on with day-to-day life with our children and parents. I thank Governor Healey and all of the members of the diaspora for reminding us of this.

It is also sometimes easy to forget that leadership across the world is not all bad. We have some good evidence of really strong, powerful leaders. Governor Healey is one of those and is an inspiration to us all. We have an issue in politics in this country, and the same is true in the United States, with the under-representation of women and those from diverse backgrounds. It is important that we remember that our family is extended now in Ireland. There are people who do not have family links going back generation after generation in Ireland. However, they are now part of our family and they must now be part of the representation of our country.

We need to remind ourselves that human values are central to what holds us together. We need leaders like Governor Healey to keep promoting those values. We have talked about the changes that have happened in Ireland and the US regarding LGBTQ+ rights. We have not spoken about abortion today. We have seen advances but we know how easily they slip back. I was in the US last year for election monitoring for the midterm elections. Many people were really surprised that abortion was still a big issue. When people feel their rights are under threat, they come out to the ballot boxes. Therefore, we need people to vote for who are going to continue to promote that. In parts of Europe we have seen the issue of contraception slip down the agenda, an indication that women's rights in general have slipped.

Governor Healey mentioned climate action which is an issue close to my own heart. We speak about war a lot, but 9 million people a year die as a result of air, water and soil pollution. That is a huge number, much higher than the number of those killed in conflict. Both are really important but when we talk about our security and our foreign policy, we have to remember that this threat is the greatest threat to humanity.It is also a human rights threat and a threat to those who cannot vote, namely, the natural world all around us. It is an obligation and takes a special kind of leadership from all of us to say this is not about votes but is about the reason people should run for politics, which is to do the right thing.

I am delighted with all the work Massachusetts is doing, as outlined by the Governor. This is now a call for us all to work together across the oceans. Indeed, we now have these tentacles around the world as regards our diaspora and those who are new to our family, including those diverse links we now have in our communities. Let us now also spread in the other direction in order to extend the links across all the continents and not just between our two continents.

My time is up. The Governor is very welcome. I hope to speak to her further later.