Reading room access and agenda control
McDowell continued arguing that Members should be given time to discuss the reading room and should not have agendas imposed from outside the House. He criticised party politics and foreign policy positions in the process.
No, I am coming to that. It is not the Leader’s role to do that; of course, it is not. However, a Chathaoirligh, it is her role to provide time in which we can discuss all of these matters, and that is what I am asking for.
I am asking that we have a real discussion so that we can articulate very clearly what we want to do on this matter, rather than have people decide the agenda in distant places and then confront us, post-Covid, with the wrecking of a decent institution in this House. It is a sad scene, if one looks at it now. It looks as if IKEA has a back office downstairs. The floor has been changed and carpeted with poor tiling. It is very sad to see what has happened.
In saying this, I hope I will not be regarded as divisive. The idea that Ireland should expel the Israeli ambassador is nonsense, for the reasons that have been mentioned. I want to make this very simple point to anybody who will listen. If that is the kind of international diplomacy that one particular party in this House wants to conduct, think of the damage it will do to foreign direct investment in Ireland if such a step was taken.
Comment on this
People say that one campaigns in poetry and governs in prose. If this is any indication of what that party aspires to do with Ireland's international relations, God help us if it has any say in the future.