Victor Boyhan praises Sister Stan Kennedy's legacy and urges action

Thank you, Cor Hurlach, and thank you for that introduction in relation to the presidential election. The presidential election is over. The people have spoken. The people have voted. And the people are sovereign. And I want to, along with my own colleagues on this side of the House, congratulate Deputy Catherine Connolly. She still is a deputy, a member of the Oireachtas, as the elected president. And her inauguration will be next week, and I know many of us will be there and look forward to joining her in those celebrations. I also want to acknowledge her PA, her Oireachtas PA, who played such a pivotal role in her election, that of Bavian O'Connor, who many of us will know in these houses. And I want to turn to Sister Stan Kennedy, a woman, indeed, I knew and had great admiration for her, but I don't want to talk about her in a sense of sadness. Today I want to talk about her in a climate of gratitude and thanks, really. And to acknowledge, as you said earlier, Cor Hurlach, she was from a little village outside Dingle in County Kerry, a place that she dearly loved. She was a proud Kerry woman. She spent a lot of time in Kilkenny, but she wasn't from Kilkenny. And indeed, much of her time, latter time, was spent in Dublin. But her life's work was one of service, one of dedication, one that was always driven by the principle of humanity. And she was one of many, many great women who had served in religious life in various congregations in Ireland. And we must never forget them, for they were pioneers themselves and did great work. Sister Stan, as I say, was someone I knew. She was a constant voice for those who felt locked out. Locked out of homes, locked out of opportunities, locked out of education, locked out of supporting and sometimes nurturing families. They were all issues that she had to confront. Her belief was, of course, that everyone had a right to have a home, and that was central to her advocacy and her work. And, of course, we know the foundation. I just want, in the few minutes I've left, to touch on three key issues. Immigrants. She set out the Immigrant Council of Ireland. And what we think has happened in our country in the last week. If there's ever been a need for the Immigrant Council of Ireland, it's now. And we must pay huge gratitude for her work, the pioneering work she did there. She advocated equality and was very proud that in May 2015, she announced publicly that she would be voting yes for the marriage equality referendum. And when asked about marriage equality referendum, she said exactly that. I mean marriage equality. That was an easy thing to do for someone in religious life in 2015. And finally, in relation to homelessness, her legacy will, of course, be Focus Ireland and the work that she did there. And isn't it a shame, as we closed the figures for last month in relation to housing, that we are told by government that 16,614 people are living in emergency accommodation in September. But more disturbing, that 5,238 of them are children living in emergency accommodation. So let's be grateful for the work that Sister Stan did, but be committed to continuing that advocacy work through our political engagement in these houses. Thank you.