Speeches: 7 July 2026

But what I can say here today is that swimmer coach George Gibney will be sentenced in the Criminal Court of Justice on the 29th of July 2026.

Unfortunately, though, the Irish Government's approach continues to be, we will be principled but only when it costs us nothing.

How long are you going to allow this chaos to continue because this is a crisis of the Justice Minister's own making.

This presidency will not be judged by promises made. It will be judged by promises delivered.

I think anybody who's heard your witness, Lucia, will know that you're not just speaking as a grieving parent or as somebody who has been desperately and tragically failed by the state, but also somebody who has become an expert in these matters.

The purpose of this Bill Taoiseach is not to predetermine any constitutional outcome but to ensure that robust planning is undertaken so that citizens and businesses and investors are fully informed of the opportunities, costs and practical implications associated with constitutional change.

Post offices should be recognized as the essential public infrastructure and funded accordingly by expanding the range of government and financial services available through post offices, ensuring fair remuneration for postmasters and investing in the long-term sustainability of the network.

For the first time in a century the prospect of Irish unity is no longer a distant aspiration, it is a real democratic possibility.

We will give more options to build long term financial security for the people and their families.

I believe the Common Agricultural Policy is the most important policy of the European Union.

It's about dialogue because that's what this does do and that's what we're not getting from you.

Constitutional change cannot be driven by deadlines or arbitrary timelines.

We must be united in this here in this chamber for a start... we need to have a united front; this is a serious business and we need to know where this will lead us.

If the post office is not there a place loses its identity.

People are asking, could there be a high level investigation carried out by senior medics to see if there's any connection with the COVID vaccines and the fact that blood tests are not showing up cancer until it's too late.

We must get real when it comes to the budget, and that means being honest about the level of funding needed to sustain a dynamic, progressive and ambitious Union.

The Competitiveness, Values and Security Team of the Irish Presidency, I think most people can see that's good and it captures the essentials for this mandate.

The port of Rosslare has grown exponentially over the past number of years since Brexit but yet the former customs post that can hold and park 93 trucks lies idle after your department has spent 14.8 million euro on it.

There are no democratic or humanitarian values which are flexible enough to justify the scale of death, destruction, and displacement we have seen.

There is no point in saying it's not happening, it is happening. You can have a different name for it, but Europe needs to respond in a resilient manner to these issues also.

Because this Bill attempts to recommit us to a strategy which has failed for so long, we will oppose it and recommit ourselves to a more credible, active and ambitious approach.

We need to recognise that a united Ireland is the greatest opportunity of our generation.

We need to deliver the largest council housing building program in the history of the state.

We will be back with this legislation because we believe, we know that preparation is the only way forward.

This is not about forcing a united Ireland on anyone, it's about shaping a new Ireland together.

Equality of access should not depend on your postcode.

The Taoiseach has no right to stand in the way of hope, ambition and the future of younger generations.

As we assume leadership of the EU budget, we must lead by example.

Will you commit that Ireland will not support a deal which sidelines cohesion and rural development funds in favour of narrowly defined competitiveness spending?

The fact that An Post has to legally behave like a company that is solely focused on profit and not the reality that An Post is a public service, it's a community service and it should be seen as such and that should actually be its priority.

We have suspended independent foreign policy for the benefit of US multinational corporations and for the fear of offending Donald Trump.

Like a paediatrician, a children's doctor, tortured mercilessly for publicly not abandoning his patients to genocide.

Are you going to force them to vote to continue this cruel practice where thousands of hairs are captured from the wild every single year, where they are held in little cages initially and then kept in enclosures with many, many other hairs when these are solitary animals, all to prepare them for the point of them racing, running for their lives?

Section 5.1 of the Bill is very clear, subject to subsection 2, and there's no exemption here that deals with this in terms of subsection 2, the importation of goods originating in a postal code to which this Act applies is prohibited.

So if we were to do that, we wouldn't be able to bring forward the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Bill 2026, or the Postal and Telecommunications Services Bill to support postmasters, or the Housing and Residential Tenancies Bill, the Planning and Development Bill, and also the bill on Thursday for the health provision of contraception prescribing services in retail pharmacy businesses.

You're either in compliance with international law or you're not in compliance with international law.

This directly affects the nurse, it directly affects the Gardaí, the hospital porter, the educator, and those in the low-paid salaries in local authorities.

Our failure must stop here and the MFF must deliver on housing.

The present system is denying good hard-working people and their families the opportunity to own their own homes.

It is time for the difficult work of preparing in earnest for unity to begin.

Ciann Comhairle, the national reunification of the territory needs to be made an absolute priority.