I hope I am not about to reveal what was said in a private conversation, but as it has been done already during Leaders' Questions, perhaps it encourages me to do so. During the interregnum I was walking around St. Stephen's Green and who did I meet but the Minister for Finance who was walking the other way. We stopped to have a chat, as one does. We talked about social partnership, capital plans and, inevitably and briefly, books we would recommend to each other. I recommended to him The Myth Gap by Alex Evans, while he blessedly recommended to me a short book he had just read, On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder. It is a good book and worth reading as it is very interesting. It contains a thesis about politics having moved from the politics of inevitability, as he calls it, whereby it is just a question of the inevitable progress towards liberal democracy, to a political system, as we see here, where one party defends the status quo and the other just consists of negation. However, this myth was shattered in 2008 in the crash. It is a myth that has collapsed and is no longer viable. Mr. Snyder argues that it is being replaced in many countries by an alternative, the politics of eternity, as he calls it.

Most politicians would agree.

He characterises it as the seduction of a mythical past that prevents us from thinking about possible futures.

Order, please.

He says it is led, in President Trump, by a nationalist who encourages us to be our worst and then tells us we are the best. It is the antithesis of a patriot who wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best. I raise this issue because I understand the Taoiseach has taken on an historian as his speech writer. The book is all about understanding and applying the lessons of history that allow us to see patterns and make judgments. It sketches for us the structures within which we can seek freedom. It permits us to be responsible, not for everything but something. He says the younger generation, to which the Taoiseach belongs, which I can say, unfortunately, has an historic responsibility to make this choice and not go down the route of nationalist politics or stick to the old inevitability but to stand up against tyranny and be courageous in doing so. The Taoiseach has a chance to be what Mr. Snyder calls the creator in a moment of history.

In March the Taoiseach said he would not invite President Trump to Ireland. He is now the leader of the country, a country that wants to stand up against the demonisation of Islam, for which President Trump stands; to stand up against his treatment of Irish emigrants who are stuck in the United States undocumented; to stand up against his repudiation of the Paris climate change agreement which forms a central part of international co-operation; and to stand up with the German Chancellor and others who say President Trump is someone who cannot be relied on. How will the Taoiseach contact the US Government about the undocumented Irish when the United States does not have an ambassador here? In so doing will he discontinue the invitation to President Trump? Will he take the lessons of history and stand up against tyranny and for all that is good in this patriotic country?

I am delighted that the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, is making the same book recommendations to the Deputy as he is to me. He gave me the book On Tyranny for my 38th birthday. I have read it and it is a good read.

Is the Minister trying to tell the Taoiseach something?

I know that for many members of the Deputy's party, the world stopped at some stage in the 1980s and that he has not read any political philosophy since, but it is-----

I thought he had made him a social democrat.

Again, 1980s concepts, big time.

I recommend that the Deputy read some books from the 1990s and this century which talk about other concepts. They are a good read. There are 20 lessons and the Deputy can read them just before bedtime. The Minister for Finance's other recommendation is The Hillbilly Elegy, while the Minister for Education and Skills recommends The Political Brain, both of which are a good read.

How does one join the book club?

Perhaps after pilates, we can also have a book club.

To answer Deputy Eamon Ryan's question frankly, in March an invitation was issued by the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, to President Trump. I will not, of course, rescind that invitation. It would be inappropriate and create a diplomatic incident if I was to rescind an invitation once made but no progress has been made in organising such a visit, for which there is no timeline. I assure the Deputy that in my dealings with the American Government and my interactions and engagement with the chargé d'affaires who is here and acting US ambassador to Ireland I will approach them based on the long-standing friendship between our countries and the familial, cultural and economic links, but I will never shirk from raising issues such as climate change. I totally reject and oppose President Trump's attempt to withdraw the United States from the commitments made in Paris. I will also raise our concerns about human and LGBT rights and other issues in America that very much oppose the values of the new European centre about which I talk.

I understand it is difficult diplomatically to rescind an invitation and perhaps this might go the way of the United Kingdom's which the American President said he would not take up because there would be protests. There will be protests here if he comes and perhaps he might make the same decision not to come. It would be a deeply divisive moment because he stands for values against which we must protest. I am interested in the Taoiseach's next steps. His job is important and occasionally one has the sense that the path of history is evolving. We are watching his steps to see what path he will take. He has said he cannot rescind the invitation. What steps will he take to say the United States is not to be relied on, as Chancellor Merkel has done? What opportunity will he take to stand up for our values and against tyranny which is the central argument of the book mentioned? Where will he be courageous? In what way will he set his values and define what he represents? It is not good enough to stay shtum for the next ten months, visit for St. Patrick's Day and have the entire parade start again. What will the Taoiseach do if he is not willing to rescind the invitation? What has changed from what he said in March other than the confines of his office? How might he break from them in a truly enlightened and historic way? His historian might help him craft a speech, which is what I would recommend.

I have not hired a speech writer, but I have hired somebody who is a professor of history. I have a great interest in history which I believe is the study of the future because few things have not happened previously and it is a good idea to fill one's suitcase with history books because they are a good guide to what might happen on the road ahead.

We are in for more of the same.

When it comes to any engagement I will have with the American authorities, I will stand by the values of this country and the European values for which the Government stands also. Whether it is interactions with the embassy in Dublin or the US authorities at other meetings or during a visit to the United States which may happen next March, the Deputy can be assured that I will absolutely include in those meetings discussions of the issues he mentioned, whether it be climate change, human rights, LGBT rights and the need to respect Muslim people, whether they are citizens of this or another country.

The undocumented Irish in the United States are being arrested by the dozen.

That too, of which the Deputy can be sure. When President John F. Kennedy addressed this House in 1963, he said the power small countries had was to use their voice and set an example.

That is exactly what I intend this Government will do, namely, use our voice as a small country to promote those values into the future.

That concludes Leaders' Questions. I have to say many of us have shown scant regard for the Standing Orders on the time allowed. We move to Questions on Promised Legislation. I remind Members that one minute for one question is what is allowed.