Post European Council Meeting: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-14
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Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East

If that is okay. I do not want to forget any question if I can avoid it.
On Gaza, significant aid was announced by the Minister this week. The European Council discussed the Middle East at some length during the meeting in December. The Irish Government is focused on support for the people there. That is important and the European Council supported the ceasefire, supports the commitment the EU has to a just and lasting peace based on a two-state solution in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions everyone is only too familiar with. They talk about implementation as well, how we achieve our objectives, stressing the need for rapid, safe and unimpeded delivery and sustained distribution of humanitarian aid at scale into Gaza, including via the Cyprus-Gaza maritime corridor Deputy Seán Crowe mentioned, to supplement land routes. In fairness to the European Council and certainly to the Taoiseach, the idea is to get as much aid as possible - a surge of aid - into Gaza. It is badly needed. The European Council called in particular for basic things like shelter, winter equipment and medical items to be allowed in. That is important.
We have robust checks on our overseas development aid. I say that to Deputy O'Flynn. It is a very important part of the work we do. Some of it goes to international bodies, some to state entities and some to religious bodies, including a lot of Catholic charities around the world, to make sure people who badly need it get the help and support they need. We are talking about, particularly in relation to Gaza, food and medical supplies, and covers for the winter for the bad weather conditions in Ukraine. There is an element of defence support there, but I can talk about one project I visited, which the Irish Government funded in association with Lithuania and the European Union. It was an underground school to allow children to continue their education during the war and also to give the local community somewhere to go when the bombs rain down on it, which unfortunately they continue to do.
Hunger strikers in the UK were not discussed at the European Council. Everyone will have huge empathy for anyone on hunger strike, but it is not a matter I have addressed as Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs and it was not a matter on the agenda of the European Council.
Regarding what Deputy Tóibín said, I certainly had no information about it until he mentioned it here. It took me quite a while to find it. I found the relevant article and paragraph and I would not pay too much heed to it, quite frankly. I have no information about it, but I can assure the Deputy that there are no proposals for a European defence pact - none whatsoever - and even if there were, Ireland could not support it without a referendum of the people. That is in the Constitution.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-14