Immediately before the adjournment of the Dáil last night, I appealed for a certain amount of tolerance for each other's views and for the claims of the different Parties that they were alone responsible for clearing the way that brought us to the position in which we find ourselves today. I made an appeal for unity, on the grounds that the question under discussion is greater than any man alive or yet to live and greater than any Party or group of Parties that exists or ever will exist in this country.
The Bill under discussion is one to give expression to the people's desire for freedom. Freedom is something that cannot be enforced on a people by a foreign or native Government. It is not an institution that they have to accept under duress. Freedom is something that is created or born in the minds and hearts of the people— they are free to give expression to their own thoughts, to elect their own representatives, to make their own laws and, over and above all, to alter or amend those laws without having to wait for the sanction or approval of any foreign or outside power. People want to be free to realise that it is in their own power and jurisdiction to appoint and receive representatives to and from the free nations of the earth.
I honestly believe that the Bill under discussion is an attempt which is going a long way to instil into the minds and hearts of the Irish people that they at last have achieved that freedom. I spoke at length last night —possibly too long—and I spoke without reference either to documents, books or previous Dáil reports. I made no claim, I read no statement or previous speech to try to prove that we were right or that any other Party or group was wrong. If, during the course of my address, I made any reference or passed any remark to which exception could be taken by any Deputy or any group in the House, I state now that it was completely unintentional. If I said anything that caused offence to anybody, I withdraw it, because I believe that this Bill should get the unanimous approval of all Deputies.
I congratulate the Taoiseach and the Ministers of the Government on whom fate bestowed the honour and privilege of introducing this Bill. It is quite possible, as some other Deputies say, that had it been introduced at some other time, the atmosphere might not be right and that the possibility of getting that unanimous acceptance that we all look forward to did not exist. I also congratulate the Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Éamon de Valera, on the statement he made here on the adjournment of the Dáil last July. Through that statement, he made it possible for us to reach the position that we find ourselves in—not alone through the statement, the actual words that he used, but by the way and the manner in which he addressed himself to the Deputies in the House. I felt myself on leaving the House, at the adjournment, that the political situation had advanced by 25 years.
I am glad that the suggestion that he threw out to have the air cleared in regard to our constitutional position was accepted. I join with him in suggesting to the Taoiseach and the Government that they should, when this Bill is passed, bring it into operation on the 30th anniversary of the declaration of the republic by the First Dáil, that the 21st January should be known as "Independence Day" and be declared a national holiday. I congratulate the Deputies who are privileged to be in this House and who have the honour of voting for this Bill. I only wish to say in conclusion that personally I thank God that I was allowed to live to come in here to take part in this debate and vote for this Bill. Finally, I salute the memory of the men who, in our generation, laid down their lives in the fight for the Irish Republic.