Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)

Senator Clonan took some of the words - not all of words - out of my mouth in his contribution regarding the overreach of the US Administration in the context of US visas. It is deeply concerning. I am sure most of us will know students who have gone on the J1 visa and have gone to travel, or indeed we may hope to travel ourselves, to the United States and now are fearful that they and we cannot.Irish students are facing a significant challenge in accessing these visas. The new requirements are invasive and undermine the rights to freedom of speech, privacy and freedom of expression. Students having to make public all of their social media profiles and any user handles they have had in the last five years is deeply concerning. Many of our young people are activists that are championing issues that might be at odds with US foreign policy, particularly around Gaza, and this has a really chilling effect on what they feel they can express. Will they have to delete or comb through all of their social media for the last five years out of fear that they may be excluded from this programme?

This programme, as we all know, is considered a rite of passage and is a symbol of our countries' close cultural ties, but the US seems increasingly selective about the values it promotes abroad. It champions freedom of speech when it suits but threatens diplomatic retaliation in other instances. Last week, I spoke about Coimisiún na Meán and the US Administration threatening civil servants working for that organisation if they were to introduce hate speech legislation that the EU has required us to transpose by 7 July this year.

This moment calls for us to have a discussion about where we stand on our international partnerships, where our boundaries are, and what diplomatic channels we are using to push back on what I believe is complete overreach. We need a public response. The Taoiseach has said that he does not approve of the measures but we really need to think about what they will mean for our students and people travelling overseas. We cannot have a double standard when it comes to this notion of freedom of speech. It is not okay that our students are having their freedom of speech curtailed. I would like us to have a really meaningful, open and cross-Chamber debate on this issue. This should not be divisive. We should discuss how we can strategise to maintain our concept of freedom of speech while also addressing issues of hate speech online and protecting our students overseas. This is a scary time and if we see systematic aspects of overreach creeping in, where will we be in terms of our international relations?