Much has been said in this House about the fuel protest, but today, I want to briefly reflect on both the protests themselves and the response to them. The deployment of our Defence Forces raises serious and worrying questions that remain unanswered. Why did the Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, deploy the Defence Forces? Was the Minister for Defence, Deputy McEntee, consulted? Where was the principle of proportionality in that response? Are there no standard operating procedures to ensure that extraordinary measures are used only when absolutely necessary? We must also ask what damage this decision has done to the reputation of our State, not only at home but internationally.

I also want to address the comments made in this Chamber suggesting protestors should be dismissed or condemned by association with the vague and ever-expanding label of the so-called far right and that this label is justified simply because people wave our national flag. These are words that poison the public debate in our country. Too often, people are branded far right not to describe them but to silence them, to delegitimise grievances without engaging with them. Those who casually use this label would do better to educate themselves on what far-right ideology genuinely is before throwing the term around so recklessly.

As for our Tricolour, it belongs to all Irish people. It has been flown by every shade of opinion and every kind of group, by extremist paramilitary, our State forces, the left and the right and even by sports fans. Never at any point in our history have we surrendered it to any one group, nor will we. Our national flag is a symbol of both our uniqueness and our unity. It was not flown by our founders for it to belong to anyone special with approved opinions or credentials. It belongs to every Irish man and woman of every creed and colour and every opinion, whether we like it or not. The Chairperson and Leader know this more than anybody. I thank them for the work they have done over the years regarding our flag and Tricolour.