Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2017
10. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach if he has had discussions with the Trump Administration in the United States of America regarding President Trump's stated support for Brexit and other member states leaving the European Union. [2740/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra11. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he or his officials have had any engagement with the President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump, or his officials since his inauguration on 20 January 2017. [2759/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra12. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach if he has had contact with the President and Vice President of the United States of America since their inauguration. [2787/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra13. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach his proposals for official trips abroad during the first six months of 2017. [3242/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra14. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he has had any contact with President Trump and Vice President Pence since their inauguration. [4124/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra15. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach if he has had contact with President Trump since his inauguration. [4126/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra16. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach if he has confirmed a visit to the White House on St Patrick's Day; and if he has had any engagement with the new President or Vice President of the United States since their inauguration. [4129/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra17. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach the official visits abroad he has scheduled for 2017. [4583/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra18. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach the discussions he has had with the new US Administration concerning Brexit and a US and UK trade deal. [4577/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 18, inclusive, together.
I have not had any contact with either President Trump or Vice President Pence since their inauguration on 20 January. However, as I have previously reported to the House, I raised immigration reform and our economic and trading interests with both President Trump and Vice President Pence during my phone calls with them following the US elections. President Trump's office has made clear his intention to continue the St Patrick's Day tradition and this has since been confirmed by his office since his inauguration. I pIan to continue to protect and promote the strong links between the Irish and American people by visiting the US for a St. Patrick's Day programme. As in previous years, I will work to protect and advance the interests of the undocumented Irish and promote Ireland's political and economic values and interests.
Regarding other official trips abroad, there will be a summit of EU Heads of State in Malta on the future of the EU on Friday, 3 February. A meeting of EU Heads of State and Government is planned for 24 to 25 March to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and there are scheduled meetings of the European Council on 9 to 10 March, 22 to 23 June, 19 to 20 October and 14 to 15 December.
In addition, an extensive programme of engagement with all other EU member states and the EU institutions has been under way for some time in the context of outlining Ireland's Brexit priorities. For my part, I recently visited Prime Minister Rajoy in Madrid. I plan to visit Warsaw in February to meet Prime Minister Szydlo. I will also take the opportunity while in Poland to participate in a number of trade promotion events. I will continue to engage with my EU counterparts, as will other Ministers, over the coming weeks to emphasise Ireland's concerns in this regard and to ensure that they are fully reflected in the EU position once the negotiations commence. Arrangements for other meetings with some of my European Council partners are being explored. I will be happy to report to the House in due course on all such engagements.
Has the Taoiseach had contact with President Trump since his announcement of the restrictions on immigration? This is the weekend of the anniversary and commemoration of the Holocaust. I think the Taoiseach knows that the implementation of the Holocaust began with people in Nazi Germany being required to carry papers and passports carrying the word "Jude" - Jew. I was chairperson of an EU Council of Ministers dealing with development and humanitarian aid in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. The basis of that genocide was a provision stating that people had to have their tribal affiliation set out on their documentation and passports. Has the Taoiseach or any of his senior civil servants had contact with the Trump Administration and does he support the view of the recently sacked US acting Attorney General that this is likely to be illegal under US law and the US Constitution and the US as we know and understand it?
The words of Donald Trump and now the decisions by President Trump have caused huge anger across the US and around the world, including in Ireland. His executive order halting the US refugee programme and the introduction of a travel ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries is counterproductive and wrong. The Taoiseach has said as much in interviews and here in the Dáil but I work on the broad presumption that Donald Trump does not watch "Oireachtas Report".
You are right there.
How would he know of the feeling of people here? How would he know if our leader, the head of Government, has not contacted him through the appropriate channels and told him this? How would he know that we will not put up with this in terms of our controls here? It was very disappointing to hear during Leaders' Questions that the Taoiseach has not conveyed his view, as stated here, which I presume is also the view of the Government and which is clearly the view of the majority of people on this island and within this State. There is no point in business as usual here. The Taoiseach needs to send that very clear message to the Administration in Washington. It may have no effect but unless it is done the potential impact of sending that clear message from this small island will not be known.
The world has been rocked over the weekend by events in the US with President Trump throwing around executive orders like confetti - attacking women's rights one day, attacking Mexicans the next and, most notably, introducing what is effectively a Muslim ban. The response of the American people, particularly young people, has been tremendous, to use a Trump phrase. They have been protesting at airports and sending President Trump a message that this is not acceptable. What will be the Taoiseach's response and the response of this Government? They say you do not know history is being made while you are actually going through it but I can tell the Taoiseach that these are historic events that call for more than a strongly worded letter, which seems to be what is being advocated by some parties here today. It calls for much more.
Last summer, the Taoiseach said that President Trump was racist and dangerous. Now it is no longer theoretical or hypothetical. He has passed dangerous and racist laws. Ireland is a very small country in the scheme of things but we have one very powerful weapon at our disposal, which is the power to deprive President Trump of a huge public relations job on 17 March and to prevent the "greenwashing" of his racist actions. No other country has the chance to showcase and send him such a message. It would be rank hypocrisy for the Taoiseach to go to Washington on 17 March to celebrate migration to the US by Irish people when Irish people who are Muslims may not even be allowed entry to the US.
This will probably be Deputy Enda Kenny's last bowl of shamrock event as Taoiseach and I ask him to make it an historic one. The Taoiseach should do something more important than sending a strongly worded letter. Frankly, I do not believe that the Taoiseach will look Donald Trump in the eye and convey the anger of Irish people and most decent people in the world because he has not done it yet, despite saying that he would.
I join with others in appealing to the Taoiseach, as Leader of this House, to forge a common view on the outrageous actions of the Trump Administration in its first ten days of office. We await further actions. What he has done in regard to refugees, to travel, to international trade and in insulting the leader of the largest neighbouring country Mexico is a start. There are other issues, such as climate change and his views on woman and the disabled. It is a moment of enlightenment. We need to take a stand on these issues. I would ask the Taoiseach to acknowledge that it is not business as usual. This is a unique set of circumstances in that we have never had a Donald Trump figure in such a powerful office before. Can we seek to forge a common view within this House to make clear the values of the Irish people? The great majority of the Irish people find what Donald Trump has done and proposes to do anathema.
It is now clear that Donald Trump's extremist views were not some electoral ploy but that, in fact, a dangerous far-right extremist and racist is now the President of the United States. During questions to the Taoiseach a year ago, I asked was Trump dangerous and racist and the Taoiseach responded to me-----
No, Deputy Boyd Barrett asked me were his comments.
No, I asked the Taoiseach-----
No, check the record.
-----did he agree that he was dangerous and racist and the Taoiseach said that he was dangerous and racist.
Hair splitting.
What I want to ask the Taoiseach is, when somebody shows that he is dangerous and racist and is implementing racist attacks and policies on vulnerable people, at what point do we draw the line and say it is not acceptable to shake hands with such a person, to give him PR opportunities and to give him gifts on behalf of the Irish people. The policy of appeasement in the 1930s of Hitler and the fascists was a disaster. Anybody would recognise that. He should have been recognised for the dangerous threat he was back then. Trump is echoing those far-right and extremist policies and I put it to the Taoiseach there can be no appeasement of somebody like that. Such a person has to be challenged, not have his hands shaken or be in any way legitimised or endorsed by the Taoiseach, particularly on a national day of celebration. How can the Taoiseach possibly shake hands with somebody who, the Taoiseach said, was dangerous and racist? By the way, I put that question to others in this House who may also be invited to Washington that they also give a commitment they will not shake hands with this dangerous racist.
The answer to the question from Deputy Joan Burton is, "no." I have not been in contact directly with the American President. There has been official contact at diplomatic level. I pointed out today, in answer to questions on Leaders' Questions, that we have had confirmation and clarification given in regard to a number of matters arising from the executive order signed by the US President, specifically, in regard to the 5,000 people from the seven countries named in the executive order who have received Irish citizenship in the past five or six years and their right to be able to enter the United States on presentation of their Irish passport as distinct from the passport of their original country. This was not a matter that was clarified early on. It is now clarified. It has been clarified by official contact at Government level in the United States.
The Deputy asked me about the pro tem US Attorney General, Ms Sally Yates. Ms Yates is a woman of great courage. She stood up for what she believed in here. This is a matter of the interpretation of the United States legislation and constitution. I understand that Ms Yates considered the matter carefully over the weekend and wrote what she believed in. I understand that the letter was hand-delivered to her at 9 p.m., at 9.02 p.m. the White House issued its statement and at 9.15 p.m. the newly appointed interim US Attorney General signed the reversal order of her direction.
It speaks volumes.
The Deputy asked if I support Ms Yates. I recognise that here was a person of courage who was not afraid to stand up for her belief in respect of the laws and constitution of the United States.
Deputy Coppinger raised the populist question of migration. What did Deputy-----
The populist question of migration-----
The issue of going to the White House.
Why so?
Yes. The populist question that I should not go to the White House.
Populist?
It is a populist question.
Is it? Okay.
Deputy Coppinger always follows that line and that is her right, if she wishes.
I intend to go to the United States, to speak directly to the American President in the White House and to speak directly to the Vice-President and to the Speaker of the House. If Deputy Coppinger thinks that Ireland, on St. Patrick's Day or in St. Patrick's week, should abandon those Irish-Americans, should abandon those 50,000 undocumented brothers and sisters of her own who are in the United States-----
What about Irish Muslims?
-----who want a path to legitimate citizenship to work in the United States, I for one will not leave them isolated and alone at a time of considerable concern for them. If Deputy Coppinger checks with the emigrant offices, she will note the increased activity and calls and visits from Irish people - the Deputy's brothers and sisters and mine - who are concerned about what might happen here. It is for that reason more than anything else that I want to be able to speak directly, eye-to-eye, to the American President and inform him of their passion for a path to legitimate citizenship of the United States to work for that economy and their families in the land of their choice.
Will the Taoiseach mention non-Irish people as well?
In respect of Deputy Howlin's remark, I agree it is not business as usual any more. It is not politics as usual anymore. Senior hurling has gone global. In that sense, we have got to stand up for what we believe in and politicians and leaders can differ.
What has hurling got to do with this?
We share great and traditional values with the United States-----
It is just an opportunity to have the last half-word on a serious issue.
It will be a hurley instead of a bowl of shamrock.
----over many presidencies and we want to maintain those values, that credibility and those traditional links.
Will the Taoiseach try to garner that support here?
Politicians differ. I differ because I disagree with the policy being outlined here by the American Administration.
If Deputy Boyd Barrett goes back and checks the record, unless my memory fails me-----
I will send the Taoiseach the transcript.
Unless my memory fails me, Deputy Boyd Barrett's question to me was about whether the comments of the then candidate were racist-----
And dangerous.
Yes.
The Taoiseach said, "yes."
My answer to that was that I considered that the comments at that time were racist and dangerous.
Does the Taoiseach consider the policy now racist and dangerous?
The Taoiseach, without interruption.
Deputy Boyd Barrett is now changing the question and attacking the personality. The Deputy's question to me was about the comments at that time.
In any event-----
Are these policies not dangerous or racist?
I intend to outline-----
In football or hurling parlance, the Taoiseach is in injury time.
It speaks volumes of the straight talking the Taoiseach will do to President Trump. The Taoiseach is already back-tracking on what he said.
I will always obey the referee.
