CEANN COMHAIRLE Seán Barrett led expressions of solidarity with Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami.

Before the start of Dáil business Mr Barrett voiced his sympathy “with the Japanese people for the pain and destruction caused as a consequence of the catastrophic earthquake and resultant tsunami on a scale unimagined”.

He said “the resilience of the Japanese people is renowned, but hopefully the good wishes of a small nation may be of some support in their hour of need”.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin also voiced his sympathy, and said his party would support the “Government’s offer of support and assistance to the Japanese people”. He would also offer his full support for “any comprehensive programme of assistance that may be offered to Irish citizens who may be anxious to return to home or to leave”.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny also expressed the “sympathy of the Irish people towards the Japanese people in their crisis arising from the awesome power of nature, along with the difficulties being experienced with the nuclear reactors”.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said his party was “thinking about the people of Japan”. He asked the Taoiseach to raise with the British authorities the occurrence of two small earthquakes in England recently in “Cumbria where Sellafield is”.

Mr Kenny said he would raise the matter “with the British prime minister whenever I have the occasion to meet him”.

Joe Higgins (SP, Dublin West) expressed the “solidarity of the ordinary people of this country” with the people of Japan. “I earnestly hope that a worse nuclear disaster does not materialise and quietly salute the wisdom of our people whose campaign in the 1970s ensure that we do not have to contend with the generation of power by nuclear fission”.