Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)

I was delighted and honoured to be present today for such a historic occasion and to hear the address by President Zelenskyy at the joint sitting of the Houses. The Cathaoirleach's speech was remarkable and I thank him for it.

As I was sitting there, I was thinking that I am very new to politics, but President Zelenskyy is also relatively new to politics. It is not his first visit to Ireland. His first visit took place eight years ago. It was to my hometown of Drogheda. On 4 November 2017, the President was then an actor and comedian. He brought his comedy troupe, the Kvartal 95 Studio, to the TLT in Drogheda, a 900-seat venue which, I am told, was sold out, with all the tickets being bought by the wonderful Ukrainian community that was there at the time. We now have an even more vibrant community there. Mr. Zelenskyy played in his native Ukraine as an actor back then, a teacher turned politician. The programme was called “Servant of the People”, so it really is a case of life imitating art. You never know what is in your future. If he had been asked then what he would be doing in eight years’ time, I dare say he would not have thought he would be saying he was fighting for his country and that he was doing so ably. We are more than happy to support him with that.

I take this opportunity to offer my congratulations to a wonderful Drogheda author. She was born in Tallaght but has made Drogheda her home. Nicola Pierce has just won the Hodges Figgis history book of the year at the An Post Irish Book Awards for Great Irish Wives. She has written a fantastic book about the wives of famous men, many of whom came through the doors of these Houses, including Matilda Tone, Sineád de Valera and Mary O'Connell. Senators will know the surnames but they may not know the first names. I advise people to buy this award-winning book. Congratulations to Nicola.