Laura Harmon (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here and thank the Tánaiste for his remarks. It is fair to say we are in a period of a lot of change in the world. The world order has changed. I do not believe Trump is the leader of the free world, and democracy is being eroded across the US and across the world. It is worrying that he has abolished the national Department of Education in the US, is weakening the media and is denying climate change. Alongside his comments on women and his xenophobic comments, all of this is deeply worrying and we need to stand up to it from Ireland and from the EU.

In terms of tariffs, what Trump is doing is one big distraction and one big spectacle. He is trying to turn back the clocks to an age that benefited only a few people. This is a blow to Ireland, and we need to ensure we have strong supports for businesses and workers and that we retain our workforce in this country. However, we absolutely need to approach this in a collaborative manner and not in panic. We must negotiate first and use our leverage within the EU to achieve this. We need an all-island, collaborative approach to this matter.

One of the biggest threats to our economy at the moment is the domestic housing crisis. We need to invest more in infrastructure and housing now. It was worrying to hear recent comments from the Minister for further and higher education that there may be an increase in the student contribution. That would be a regressive step. We need to invest in education and close the deficit when it comes to our higher education institutions so we can keep workers here. We have the highest levels of outward migration at the moment since 2015. We are losing teachers, gardaí and healthcare workers. We need to keep them in the country to keep our economy going.

As regards Palestine, our humanity in Ireland is not for sale. It cannot be bought or sold. I reject any premise that our economic security here depends on some idea that Palestinians must die. It is not a competition between human rights and business. We need to absolutely protect that and pass the occupied territories Bill.

I welcome the Tánaiste's remarks about Ukraine and his commitment to its self-determination and peace. The Labour Party's perspective on the triple lock is that we should safeguard it and that we need further cross-party discussion on it to protect our neutrality. We also need to invest in our Defence Forces, however, and we need to review their pay and conditions and implement the working time directive there.

One of the biggest opportunities is the shared island approach. We saw this with Brexit and with the pandemic. The shared island initiative is welcome but we need to do more than that, and there is a strong business case for preparing for a border poll. We should not let that fall off the agenda; we need to lean into it.

I thank the Tánaiste and the Minister of State for joining us this morning.