Senator Gerard P. Craughwell - speech from 16 May 2019

I would actually echo the words of my colleague Senator Horkin. We have a proud tradition in this country of welcoming leaders of other countries and if we have something to say to them regarding human rights or anything else, we say it to them when they're here. So I would fully support what Senator Horkin has said. Now yesterday, Leader, I was one of the people who insisted that we stop at committee stage in the residential tenancies legislation. But that was not in any way to impede what the Minister is trying to do. The Minister for Housing gets a huge amount of stick in the public domain. And I've said this the other day, Leader, we need to look at the finance side of purchasing property for young couples in this country. And I believe the central bank rules are just too strict. You have young couples who are capable of paying 2,100 a month rent and could actually mortgage the same property for about 1,400 a month. We need to find a way. And I know, Leader, that you and I know your party would be interested in doing that. But I think we need to get the Minister for Finance in here and see what pressure can be brought to bear on the banking system to facilitate mortgages for young couples. Leader, I have spoken before about Jadaville and you know that. Today we read in the Irish Times of five men from Jadaville who took their own lives after returning from Jadaville. Last night at Trinity College, the women's graduates group, Leo Quinlan delivered his Jadaville lecture. And after that, the sister of Matt Quinlan, who took his own life, read to the gathering the story of Matt's life. And it was absolutely earth-shattering what that man went through after he came home. And I know I have banged on and on and on about medals for these men, but God damn it, it's a small price to pay. But last night at the end of Bernadette Quinlan's presentation, a very elderly man from Kilkenny walked over to me. He put his hand on my shoulder. He was a Jadaville hero himself. And he said to me, Senator, if you do nothing else in your life, bring Quinlan home to be restive with his mother and father. He shot himself in Australia. And all they have is a battered suitcase with his entire life's possessions in it. Today, I intend to start a campaign to bring him home. And I hope members of this house will support me and members of the lower house. It's a small, small price to pay for the dishonour and the disservice we did to those men. So, I'm asking, Leader, that any support that can be given from your side of the house, and I know Fianna Fáil will also look at it favourably, and Sinn Féin and Labour and other independents, anything that can be done to bring that boy home, that man home, to rest with his mother and father, I think it's the very least we could do. So, I'm calling on all of us, all of us in the public domain, to support a call. And it's a very simple campaign. Bring him home. Thank you.