Did you mean war speaker:Matthew O'Toole?
Matthew O'Toole: ..., just as they defended collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, that Stakeknife "saved 'countless' ... lives". To quote the report: "He did not." That is a grotesque indictment of the state's dirty war on this island and of its handling of agents. The UK Government's response of simply glossing over that and not even engaging with the detail of the interim report, let alone offering the...
Matthew O'Toole: ...intimidated those nations on Russia's periphery. The actions by that ganister regime are totally unacceptable. They are unacceptable not only at a geostrategic level but because they are committing war crimes. They are in breach of international law and are inflicting enormous trauma on the innocent people of Ukraine. We have all, over the past few days, been watching the courage and...
Matthew O'Toole: ...Patel claimed the other day that 70% of the people crossing the Channel were economic migrants. That is a complete falsehood and has been proven to be a falsehood. These are people moving from war-torn countries where they and their families are often at extreme risk. Why are they having to make that appalling, risky decision? Yes, there are exploitative gangs at work who absolutely need...
Matthew O'Toole: ...between London and Belfast. I see that we already have a robotic lawnmower operating today at the front of the Stormont estate, so perhaps the robots are ready for a promotion. Perhaps, if 'Star Wars' comes back to film in Ireland, we can ask whether R2-D2 fancies a stint as Finance Minister. That is not to be flippant but simply to say that we are here for a reason: to take responsibility...
Matthew O'Toole: ...moments. They were part of a decade of disruption on the island of Ireland that began in 1912. The decade of centenaries will run right through to the centenary of the conclusion of the Irish civil war. That decade 100 years ago brought about enormous disruption. Rather than seeking to score points from history, it is important to set out and acknowledge two broad truths about the...
Matthew O'Toole: ...story in fascinating ways. Early in the last century, at the same time as Sir Otto Jaffe was sitting as a unionist member on Belfast City Council, Robert Briscoe was fighting as a republican in the war of independence. His brother, believe it or not, was named Wolfe Tone Briscoe. Gustav Wolff, one of the founders of Harland and Wolff, was from a family who converted from Judaism. A former...
Matthew O'Toole: ...that the Narrow Water bridge, which is a bridge of maybe100 or 200 yards — I do not know how wide it will be — is a little different to a bridge going through unexploded Second World War munitions and dodging nuclear subs at a cost of God knows how many millions of pounds over a dozen miles of the North Channel?
Matthew O'Toole: ..., we will not move amendment No 37, because we think that a combination of amendment No 36, which is absolutely critical, and the Finance Minister's subsequent amendments from amendment No 38 onwards do some of the tidying up that we sought to do. I will come to the meat of why amendment No 36 is important and may well be the most important of today's amendments. We have always been...
Matthew O'Toole: ...lectured by people like Mr Givan, who were triumphant enthusiasts for Brexit, which will probably mean the biggest increase in trade barriers in the modern era and certainly since the Second World War. It is a remarkably ironic statement; Alanis Morissette could not have written Mr Givan's speech any better, given the level of irony in it. My party and I support the motion. I agree with...
Matthew O'Toole: ...the Assembly before, but it is important. A few days ago, in the Chamber, the Education Minister repeated one of the great clichés about this place: Winston Churchill saying, after the First World War that, after the waters of the war had subsided: "the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again", still left with their eternal quarrel. We obviously have not quite moved on...
Matthew O'Toole: ...grants extraordinary powers, here and in London, to government and public bodies. They are powers that curtail the freedom of individuals and reduce the legal obligations that certain bodies have towards citizens. To be clear, in anything close to normal circumstances, the legislation would be unconscionable and unacceptable. As, of course, would be the speed with which the Bill was passed...