The next Taoiseach has been urged to appoint someone from a minority community to the Seanad. "How powerful would it be to have somebody from the black community or the Traveller community in Ireland sitting in the Seanad," Mr Ó Ríordáin told TDs. The Dublin Bay North TD used his speech to criticise deputies in the current Dáil who have in the past referred to asylum seekers as "free-loaders, blackguards and hoodlums" and that they need to be "deprogrammed'. Several TDs criticised the Direct Provision system for accommodating asylum seekers with Independent TD Denis Naughten saying it was “inhumane” and amounted to “institutional abuse”. Mr O'Brien claimed that some TDs used racism to get elected in the last general election.

Source: Irish Independent June 17, 2020 16:18 UTC