Catherine Connolly

That period of time from 1821 to 1861 has already been referred to. It hits all of us. We are talking about Daniel O'Connell and emancipation during this period of time right up to the Famine. It is hard to look at this and realise that we are still dealing with famine in the 21st century. I will come back to the body of this quickly. I will not speak for long on it but there is a feeling of awfu…

Fáiltím roimh an mBille seo agus go bhfuilimid faoi dheireadh na dála ag an bpointe go bhfuil muid ar Chéim an Choiste. Is maith an rud é sin. Mo bhuíochas leis an iarAire, Éamon Ó Cuív, a chuir tús leis an bpróiseas seo. Tá sé tábhachtach é sin a aithint. Lean muidne ar aghaidh, agus seisean freisin. Ní raibh sé ina bhall den choiste ach d’fhreastail sé go mion minic ar na cruinnithe. Ní mór dom …

Maithfidh an tAire dom é, ach tá a fhreagra beagáinín lag agus é ag cur in iúl go mbeidh an bord i bhfad níos éifeachtaí más rud é go mbeadh deichniúr tofa agus seisear ceaptha i gceist. Ní aontaím leis sin. A mhalairt atá i gceist sa Teach seo. Tá méadú ollmhór tagtha, 174 Ball, agus ní raibh aon chaint faoi mhí-éifeacht. I nGaillimh tá 39 comhairleoir ar an gcomhairle contae. Is méadú mór é sin …

Ní mór dom a rá go bhfuil sé beagáinín íorónta, cé go bhfuil neart cainteoirí ann agus nuair a chuireann tú san áireamh go bhfuil 174 Teachta Dála i gceist, go bhfuil cuid acu ar na meáin chumarsáide ag gearán nach bhfuil deis chainte acu ach níl siad anseo anois lena gcuid guthanna a chloisteáil. Ní mór dom é sin a rá. Maidir leis an leasú seo, níl m’ainm ar an leasú ach aontaím leis agus tugaim…

Tá m’ainm ar an gcéad leasú. Arís, tá sé thar a bheith praiticiúil. Tá ciall ceannaithe againn anois agus ba chóir go mbeadh caighdeán anseo. Phléigh muid é arís go mion ar an gcoiste. Ní raibh muid ag iarraidh ualach mór a chur ar dhaoine ach amháin a chinntiú go mbeadh ar cibé duine atá ar an údarás a gcuid gnó a dhéanamh trí Ghaeilge, tuarascála a léamh agus mar sin de. Tá a fhios agam go bhfui…

Fanfaidh mé go dtí go gcloisfidh mé an freagra ón Aire.

Níl m'ainm leis an leasú seo. Is dócha go bhfeicim an dá thaobh. Arís, tá sé mar mholadh ón gcoiste. Phléamar é seo, agus bhreathnaíomar ar an dá thaobh. Is dócha, i ndeireadh na dála, go bhfuil an leasú seo stuama, ach ní mór dom a admháil go raibh mé idir dhá chomhairle ar feadh tréimhse ag smaoineamh an raibh gá leis. Ceapaim i ndeireadh na dála go bhfuil an leasú stuama. Má táimid i ndáiríre f…

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Táim ag díriú isteach, a Thánaiste, ar an gcinedhíothú atá ag tarlú. Agus muidne i mbun cainte, tá cinedhíothú ar mhuintir na Palaistíne ar siúl. Táimid ag fáil na mílte aighneachtaí, gach Teachta Dála anseo, ag cur brú orainne ceannaireacht a thaispeáint agus rud a dhéanamh de réir ár mbriathar. There are many things I would like to engage with…

I know it is difficult for the Tánaiste to hear this and I ask him to please not waste his reply, if he could, in telling me how grateful the Palestinian people are to us. I know that he is going to tell me that because I have been told it repeatedly. Of course they are grateful and of course we should be proud that we recognise Palestine. That is the bare minimum we should be doing faced with a …

What we could do is end the military use of Shannon Airport. At the very least use the legislative powers that are there to stop the transit of arms being reported on a regular basis by The Ditch. During the previous Government, Eamon Ryan told us there would be an inspection regime. I understand that is gone by the way. The leader of the Labour Party has welcomed the occupied territories Bill. I …

They could stop the trade agreement that Europe has with Israel. They could end the Central Bank issuing war bonds, and the Tánaiste might explain about the American Jewish committee that the Taoiseach met in America about the next steps of agreement. Please clarify that.

I would prefer to stay in silence at the Tánaiste's failure to respond-----

-----in recognition of the genocide that is taking place in our name.

The words the Tánaiste is not using are "genocide in our name".

The Tánaiste has refused to condemn the genocide. He has refused to condemn Trump and the American Government for fully backing genocide. We have called out Russia for its illegal invasion. We have supported the Tánaiste on that, and he has utterly failed to call out what Israel is doing. They are ignoring all international law. They are committing genocide in our name while he talks about silly w…

-----in our name.

Thank you, Leas-Ceann Comhairle.

Stop using Shannon Airport to carry destructive weapons. Enact the occupied territories Bill immediately. Stop trade with Israel. End the export of dual-use products.

The interruptions by all of the Government Members are a measure of their absolute absence of realisation of what is happening on the ground. It is easier to join in with a Tánaiste who is utterly failing to answer the questions. Can he please go back to the committee that the Taoiseach met when he was in America-----

Commitments were given, and it was reported in the paper that agreement was made-----

I was interrupted.

Thank you for that. I appreciate it. What was agreed and what commitments were made?

I am going back to the Palestinian situation and I will go local in Galway. This is something where the Government can make its sweet words mean something.

This issue concerns a Palestinian couple. The man came here last May and was joined by his wife and their two children in June. She is currently 12 weeks pregnant. Inhumanely, yesterday they received a letter telling them they had to move from their accommodation in Galway. The wife is pregnant and the two children are in the local school within walking distance. I wrote in desperation to IPAS and…

There are four speakers with three minutes each.