Tréaslaím le Marty Walsh atá athtofa mar mhéara ar Bhostún. Tá muintir Chonamara, na Gaillimhe agus na hÉireann an-bhródúil as an éacht atá déanta aige agus as an bhfoireann ar fad a bhí ag obair leis. I congratulate Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston whose parents both come from Connemara. He is a proud Irishman, an Irish speaker and a man of the people and he was re-elected as mayor of Boston last night. It is a fantastic achievement. The reports on the campaign indicate that one of the biggest things he did was tackle the housing crisis in Boston. This created significant employment in recent years and provided affordable and social housing for those who needed it. He also did a great deal of work with people who have drug and alcohol addiction problems. It is fantastic to see him being re-elected.

A week is a long time in politics. Shortly before the break we had a debate on Catalonia. In the intervening period, half the members of the Government of the region have been put in prison and the other half are in exile in Belgium. Before the break, we heard from most Heads of State across Europe that this is an internal issue for Spain. We cannot say any longer, however, that this is the case. The two leaders of the cultural organisations are still in prison. Even teachers who had debates in schools in respect of the events relating to the referendum are being threatened with imprisonment. This is an absolute assault on fundamental human rights, including the right to free speech. It is important that our Government reassesses its position on the issue. From Brussels, President Puigdemont denounced the fact that there is a Eurocratic elite which only obeys the member states and which has betrayed and corrupted the defence of the foundational values of Europe. For him, this elite has shown a lack of connection with what people are interested in.

There is a fundamental debate happening about what the European Union stands for, and what its leaders and prime ministers stand for. The contrast between the way the judicial system in Belgium has treated President Puigdemont and the way the Spanish system has treated the Ministers who are now imprisoned is massive and we need a further debate on the continuing issues in Catalonia and how they will affect every single European state.

I note that Senator Conway mentioned Dine in the Dark and congratulated people on attending and participating in it. I was there last night and I am very happy to acknowledge the work he did and congratulate him on it. It was a very enlightening event by virtue of being in the dark. It was a moment when we could realise what daily life is like for some of our fellow citizens.

Before I attended the event I was reading a report by the National Council for the Blind of Ireland and the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice. It examined the cost of living for basic needs, not what people want. The minimum essential standard of living for a single adult with visual impairment cost €285.76 per week in 2016. That is €44.54 more than the main minimum essential standard of living for a single adult with vision. There are real but ordinary extra costs, daily and weekly, for people who have disabilities. I acknowledge that the Government increased the disability allowance and other related income supports by €5 to commence early next year. That is across the board. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, a Government outfit, told us in January of this year that people with disabilities are going further into poverty while the rest of the population is thankfully, and that is my word, moving slightly in the other direction. I request that the Leader now call on the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to come to this House to set out the issue. The facts are presented in this bird's eye report on one group of people, but according to the CSO people with disabilities are in fact experiencing more poverty and exclusion.

I also join in thanking my colleagues who took the time to visit Westminster on Monday and Tuesday. The meetings were very worthwhile. We need to do a lot more of this. We have taken our east-west relationship far too lightly because much more can be done. A total of €1 billion of trade is conducted every week between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. After the Queen's visit in 2011, the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce was set up. That tells us this was a relationship we took for granted. Much progress has been made since the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Good Friday Agreement. Relations are at an all-time high. There is a strong feeling of goodwill among the politicians from all sides in Westminster and there is a huge Irish diaspora that we sometimes do not understand. It is very vocal. We need to do much more of that. That is why I would like to thank Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, for taking the time out to meet us for an hour. It was a robust meeting. Our views were different but at least it was a good meeting with Vince Cable, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Emily Thornbridge, the Labour Party shadow foreign secretary, Ian Blackwood, the leader of the Scottish National Party in Westminster, and Adrian O'Neill, the Irish ambassador to the United Kingdom. When politicians from the United Kingdom come here, I urge all Members in this House to meet them. They will meet people who have fathers and mothers, and grandfathers and relations from the island of Ireland and their own areas. When they meet them, they will realise that we are very united in many ways.

I pay tribute to the Taoiseach for wearing the Irish poppy pin in the Dáil yesterday. It reflected the mature direction we are taking as a nation. When I first saw the poppy 25 years ago, I hesitated, thinking it was not mine. We have to remember the 50,000 young Irish men from the whole island, nationalists and unionists, who fell in the Great War. My favourite song about the poppy is the Green Fields of France: "Well the sun now it shines on the green fields of France, There's a warm summer breeze it makes the red poppies dance." We sing it and love this song and we should be able to embrace a part of our history that we conveniently airbrushed.