Cabinet Committees Dail Éireann — 2023-05-09 ============================================================ Leo Varadkar (FG), Dublin West I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 23, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs was established by the Government on 18 January 2023. Its role is to oversee the implementation of programme for Government commitments relating to the European Union and international issues. The committee generally meets in advance of meetings of the European Council and we expect it will do so again ahead of the meeting that will take place in Brussels at the end of June. Seán Haughey (FF), Dublin Bay North What are the Taoiseach's views regarding ongoing reports of Russian ships operating off Ireland's west coast, including in our exclusive economic zone? Only last week, four Russian navy and merchant ships were observed close to undersea cable sites. Clearly this must be seen as a threat to the flow of global digital communications in particular. We are now all aware of the threats posed by Putin and the role of hybrid warfare. As I understand it, our critical infrastructure includes natural gas subsea interconnectors, an electric subsea interconnector, and subsea cables that make up our telecommunications infrastructure, many of which link Europe and the United States of America. What are our Defence Forces, in particular our Naval Service, doing in this regard? Is enhanced maritime patrolling taking place? Have the Defence Forces the necessary capabilities to undertake this work? Is this something that will be examined by the consultative forum that was recently established by the Tánaiste concerning foreign security and defence policy? I am conscious there is an EU directive, the network and information security, NIS, 2 directive, relating to this area. I am interested in the Taoiseach's views on this matter. Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth I, too, wish to follow up on the Russian ships in Irish waters. We have already heard mention today of the secret air defence agreement with the RAF. There needs to be far more discussion of that and the whole question of military non-alignment. It raises the question of capacity. Considering the humanitarian operation, and we can see much good work was done in Sudan, there are questions to be asked. We have had the Commission on Defence Forces and we live in an age of hybrid and cyber warfare, so we need to make sure we have a review of the dangers we face and the capacity to deal with them. I need to make an apology. When I brought up the issue of the GAA, I did not mention and wish luck to the players and management of the Louth team. We are hoping for far better luck in the Leinster final than we have had in previous times. Mary Butler (FF), Waterford As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible. Stephen Donnelly (FF), Wicklow As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible. Mary Butler (FF), Waterford As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible. Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West Ireland is now the third country in Europe in the context of the number of European works councils, EWCs, based here. It is a requirement under EU law for major corporations to have councils for, effectively, consultation and discussion with their employees. After Brexit, a substantial number of companies moved their EWCs to this country. Millions of workers, therefore, are affected by how EWCs operate here. In recent weeks, we have seen major lay-offs by tech multinationals. We have seen the danger that Ireland will be used as the wild west with regard to workers' rights, as part of a race to the bottom affecting workers here and right across Europe. The European Commission has found that our legislation on EWCs, particularly as regards disputes, does not live up to the EU directive and has sent a formal notice to that effect to the Government. What is the Government doing to ensure that our legislation meets EU standards, especially as regards allowing for disputes to be taken by EWCs? A significant first case was taken to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, last week, the finding of which highlighted many issues regarding legislation. One conclusion was that a code of practice on EWCs should be in place. Will the Government commit to introducing such a code of conduct, as exists in many other European countries? Another conclusion of the WRC decision was that the chairpersons of EWCs were effectively shouldered with half the costs of training themselves, which goes against the whole basic principle that it is the company that pays for training and other things to do with the EWC. Stephen Donnelly (FF), Wicklow As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly. I would also like to remind the Deputy that it is against Department policy to comment on individual cases. Stephen Donnelly (FF), Wicklow Under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has statutory responsibility for the administration of the community drug schemes; therefore, the matter has been referred to the HSE for attention and direct reply to the Deputy. I am very much aware of the case of Mr. Phelan, who is being detained in Iran. The Department of Foreign Affairs is working on it and we are doing all we can to ensure that man is released as soon as possible. We are aware that he is in poor health, and we are concerned about that. As Deputies will be aware, however, Iran is not the friendliest of regimes towards Ireland at the moment, and vice versa . Nevertheless, we are doing all we can and hope the issue will be seen as a humanitarian one and set aside politics in the interests of a man who is very sick and needs to get home to his family. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-05-09/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:51+00:00 Sitting date: 2023-05-09