I propose to take Questions Nos. 5, 15 and 16 together. The Government and our EU partners remain seriously concerned at the situation in Sudan. Heavy fighting, including air strikes, has been taking place across Khartoum and the rest of Sudan since 15 April. Hospitals and critical infrastructure have been attacked. At least 500 people have been killed and thousands injured. Civilians are the main victims of the conflict, with many trapped in their homes, unable to access essential supplies. A series of ceasefires …

I thank the Deputies for their comments. I will convey their best wishes to the consular staff, diplomats and members of our Defence Forces working in Djibouti, Cyprus, Egypt and Jordan in the co-ordination of this. The first comment I would make in regard to this crisis and future crises is that we will always be part of a pan-European response. That is the benefit of being in the European Union. Much depends on who is strongest on the ground in given situations. The French would have been strong in Sudan, with ba…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The full and effective operation of all of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement across all three strands is a key priority for me for and for our Government. The people of Northern Ireland are entitled to a functioning Assembly and Executive. In recent weeks we have seen cuts to services that will affect Northern Ireland's most vulnerable. It is vital that the people of Northern Ireland are represented by the politicians that they elected in May 2022. The absence o…

I thank the Deputy for the points he has made. Last week at the three-day event on the Good Friday Agreement a significant dinner was hosted by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland involving all those who participated in the agreement, but also many community groups and representatives of all the political parties. That gave me an opportunity to informally talk to all the leaders of the Northern Ireland political parties as well as the Secretary of State. Contacts, discussions and assessments are continuing,…

We are all conscious of the particular milestones that have been outlined. I do not want to speculate on those or the impact of them on the restoration of the institutions. I found it interesting that in the debates and various contributions that took place last week no one said they were not going to go back into the institutions in the fullness of time. Groups have raised issues pertaining to the Windsor agreement. The agreement comprehensively addressed many of the issues unionist political parties raised. There…

As I said, the country is continuing to respond to a severe economic crisis, which escalated in 2022 due to the high debt burden and also the pandemic-related fall in tourist numbers and this lead to the suspension of foreign debt payments in April 2022. There is a small Irish community in Sri Lanka. We continue to provide consular assistance and advice to Irish citizens in Sri Lanka through our embassy in New Delhi and our honorary consul in Colombo. A number of consul visits to Sri Lanka have been undertaken to s…

I thank the Deputy again for his insightful and detailed presentation of the case. I was about to say earlier that the focus of the EU's approach with Sri Lanka has been the generalised scheme of preferences plus arrangement, which aims to support Sri Lanka's economic development through increased trade with the EU, as well as by diversifying its exports and attracting investment. That system and the benefits of it are granted on the condition that Sri Lanka implements 27 international conventions on human rights, …

There is no backlog at the moment; none. Phone calls are being dealt with very quickly; within two to three minutes. As I said earlier in my replies, the longest wait for a call to be returned last week was five minutes and 350,000 passports have been issued this year. What can we do to help first-time applicants, including helping them to complete their applications correctly? A recent upgrade to the passport online platform provides first-time applicants with a bespoke list of the documents they need to submit, w…

I thank the Deputies for their comments. Some 350,000 passports have issued to date this year. All turnaround times are at their target levels and there are no backlogs. The customer service hub is responding to over 3,000 queries per day and it has handled over 200,000 queries to date in 2023. The Department of Foreign Affairs website includes a dedicated passport service section where applicants can easily find out what additional documents are required for their applications. Perhaps it is evidence of his dilige…

Those issues have improved immeasurably.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for the motivation behind his question. The visit of President Biden in the month that we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement was indicative of wider American support for peace on this island. Throughout his visit, President Biden spoke of the importance that the United States attaches to the agreement. The Taoiseach raised the ongoing political instability in Northern Ireland with President Biden during their bilateral meeting. I raised the poli…

I agree with most of what the Deputy has said. It is also important to point out that President Biden has appointed Joe Kennedy III as an economic envoy to Northern Ireland. Joe Kennedy spent a lot of time in Northern Ireland both prior to the week of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and during that week. He has had a lot of engagement with industry, business and political contacts. I met the Northern Ireland Business Brexit Working Group, which was very welcoming of the Windsor…

I agree with the Deputy. In all of my visits to Northern Ireland and in my engagements, I have always ensured there was a community dimension to my programme. I refer particularly to meeting communities on both sides of interface locations, for example. I had a very interesting visit to Creggan and surrounding areas last year. It was striking that residents on both sides of peace walls said that they need to get to know each other better first, before any walls are taken down. The wall is the ultimate perceived bar…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Intense fighting is continuing in eastern Ukraine, particularly around the city of Bakhmut. Russia is continuing its regular missile attacks on cities and civilian infrastructure across the country. Ireland remains unwavering in its support of Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and right to defend itself against Russia's brutal full-scale invasion. Ireland is supportive of the ten-point peace formula announced by President Zelenskyy last November. In March, the E…

The Foreign Affairs Council met earlier this week, on Monday, and the foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, addressed that meeting by video conference. He is seeking a broad range of supports from the European Union, including the provision of weapons from those member states that are providing them in as timely a manner as possible and action to prevent the circumvention of sanctions. He gave an outline of the current situation with Ukraine. The determination and the resilience of the people of Ukraine in the face of t…

President Zelenskyy described his talks with President Xi Jinping as being meaningful and I believe they lasted well over an hour. As to the degree to which China can influence Russia, that level of engagement could have positive outcomes but we must wait and see. Any influence that can be exercised over Russia to withdraw and to cease the war is important. Russia started this war unprovoked. It is an imperialist war and it challenged and undermined the basic principles of the United Nations Charter in terms of sov…

I have had regular interactions with the British Government in respect of the legacy Bill, especially in the context of the Good Friday Agreement. As outlined earlier, I attended the Queen's University events and so forth. I met the British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, in person at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February. We have made very clear, as I did in my speech in Queen's University last week, the Government's opposition to the legacy Bill and the need for it to be paused in the Westminster Parl…

Níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil rátaí morgáiste ag ardú ó thosach na bliana agus níos luaithe. Níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil sé sin ag cur brú ar dhaoine agus ar theaghlaigh. Tá a fhios againn faoi sin. Mar aon leis sin, is léir go ndearna an Rialtas an-chuid sa bhliain seo caite ó thaobh an chostais mhaireachtála. Ó thosach na bliana seo caite go dtí an lá atá inniu ann, tá an-chuid déanta againn ó thaobh cabhair agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhaoine go hiomlán, trí cháin a ísliú, níos mó cabhair a thabhairt do dhaoin…

Over the past 12 months and before that, the Government has introduced unprecedented cost-of-living measures worth billions in order to put money back into the pockets of households----

-----with a view to reducing the impact of cost-of-living increases. I remember Sinn Féin's response to the energy crisis. Thanks be to God we did not follow it, because the same proposal the party put forward was adopted by-----