Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Garret Ahearn (FG), Administrative Panel

When we talk about decision-making, one of the faults of the European Union is the speed of decision-making. I just came back this morning from the World Forum in Berlin where I spoke on defence and security and what allied countries can do to support Ukraine and position ourselves to support of other countries that are vulnerable. Taiwan will be an obvious country in 2027. Taiwan controls 90% of semiconductors. If it is invaded by China, it will have a massive impact throughout the world. However, a deterrent to that would be the EU and America having a position before a war starts, not afterwards. Mr. Kelleher has done an awful lot of work on Ukraine sanctions coming through, but the European Union should have had a position well before the war in Ukraine started to try to deter what happened. We are playing on the back foot after the war commenced. The European Union needs to learn the lesson that we have to hold a position in support of small countries that are very vulnerable.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18