Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 24 Nov 2022
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Transcript
Go rae maith agat, Caeirleach. Caeirleach, I rise today to propose a motion that Shannon Eireann recognises the Holland Mar inflicted death by starvation of 1932 to 1933 as a genocide on the Ukrainian people and on its 90th anniversary, November 26, 2022, we show our solidarity with Ukraine in commemorating this man-made famine which was inflicted on the Ukrainian people by the deliberate policies of a totalitarian Stalinist regime which resulted in millions of innocent lives being lost. I want to recognise the ambassador from Ukraine who is in the VIP gallery right now. There is a statement which will be or there is a background which will be available to people after this but one of the paragraphs is absolutely horrific. At the height of the Holland Mar Ukrainians died at a rate of 25,000 per day. Nearly a quarter of rural Ukrainians per day. Nearly a quarter of rural Ukrainians perished. More than three million children born between 1932 and 1933 died of starvation. Remember this was inflicted on the people. In the same two years the Soviet Union sold 1.7 million tonnes of grain on western markets. This was the planned death, the murder of so many people. And I think we should hold today that we stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine in remembering this issue. Over the last day or two I've spoken about the Irish Coast Guard. Yesterday it was life jackets. The day before it was the failure to have an inquest into Catherine Lucas's death. The Coast Guard is without a director for some considerable period of time now. There are massive issues with respect to the way volunteers have been treated in that organisation. There are outstanding grievances that have never been heard. And from my mind and my point of view the organisation appears to be toxic. I would like to ask you to bring the minister into this house for a debate on the Irish Coast Guard and where exactly we are going. Volunteers put themselves forward for this organisation. They give up their time freely. And having senior members of the Coast Guard arrive at your house to tell you you're fired is simply not good enough. So I'm asking for a debate on that. I know.