In the midst of elections in Northern Ireland and the backdrop of continuing chaos at Westminster, the Andrew Marr show on LBC believes that the British Government is going to include a provision in the Queen’s speech that will give British ministers the powers to suspend and breach the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol through domestic legislation that will allow them to halt border checks. What preparations are under way by the Irish Government, with the European partners, to address this attempt to breach i…

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this very important debate. I am grateful to the Taoiseach for updating us on the special European Council meeting that took place on 24 and 25 March. I will not lie. The results of this are extremely disappointing. The fifth round of sanctions that were announced yesterday at the ECOFIN meeting, while very welcome, are yet another piecemeal approach to this situation. If we truly want to have an impact and cut off the financing of President Vladimir Putin's vic…

Since the beginning of Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine this calendar year, European Union member states have expelled over 310 Russian diplomats from their embassies across the Union. That includes Lithuania, which very bravely and foresightedly expelled the Russian ambassador just this weekend. So far, the Irish Government has expelled four diplomats. While that is welcome, it is quite paltry considering the level and number of expulsions happening across the EU. My question is quite simple. Has the Eu…

I thank the Taoiseach and the Ministers for their intervention. I particularly thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for not beating around the bush about the severity of the situation being faced, the need for clear thinking about the challenges that will be presented and the responsibilities that lie on all of us in the House and throughout the country. Echoing much of what Deputy Whitmore said, I would like to think there is a collectivity of purpose whereby all of us, regardless of what bench we sit on, are awar…

I appreciate the selection of this matter for debate and the presence of the Minister in the Chamber. This has been a pressing issue for a number of years. Since 2015, more than 6,000 members of An Garda Síochána have been assaulted in the line of duty. This works out at an average of two members of An Garda Síochána at least every day. The Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland recommended the introduction of body-worn cameras over four years ago. Ireland is an outlier when it comes to this compared to ot…

I welcome the Minister's response and look forward to the legislation coming to the Dáil very soon. I intend to elaborate on the issues to a greater extent on Second Stage and I hope there is an opportunity for a robust debate in the Houses, with support for the proposals from as many Deputies and Senators as possible. There is a very important and clear need for a sound legislative basis, which the Minister has laid out in some detail. I appreciate not just her commitment but that of the entire Government in this …

What contact have the Minister and his officials had with the Russian ambassador and will he make a statement on the matter?

I fully appreciate that channels for dialogue are open and that they are constant and consistent. Have they led to anything? Is there any progress? The Minister briefly mentioned the ambassador's performance before the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee. I note equally his performance on RTÉ and his slew of absolutely offensive statements. In more practical terms, the embassy is in my own constituency of Dublin Rathdown. There is understandable desire from so many people to protest against the continuing Russian …

I was relieved to read the letter from the British ambassador in The Irish Times this morning restating his government's commitment to the Good Friday Agreement, and to hear the comments by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland that the British Government had no intention of introducing border checks in this country. However, this runs counter to the clear statement in the Nationality and Borders Bill in Westminster. Amendments that would provide for an electronic system for travel authorisation, ESTA, style …

I apologise for briefly nipping out to vote at the finance committee and for being somewhat breathless as a result. I thank Deputy Howlin for taking up as much time as possible but also for talking about a number of key issues that I will briefly refer to regarding this very important amending legislation. Its importance does not just relate to the European arrest warrant but to the amendments being tabled, seeing it passed speedily by the Houses and transposed into Irish law as quickly as possible because nothing …

Over the past couple of weeks, Deputy Paul Murphy and I have probably spent a lot of time disagreeing with each other. If Deputy Murphy and I are frank, we have spent the past 20 years disagreeing with each other on many issues but there is not a single word he said just now that I cannot agree with 100%. We have to start off from this point. This legislation is so important to so many people outside this House and in it, from all parties and none, that it behoves all of us to add a genuine level of discussion of, …

With the indulgence of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, at the outset I would like to join others in this House and in the Seanad in marking the passing of David Hill on Saturday. David tragically passed away on the rugby pitch while we were playing the annual Ireland versus Scotland parliamentary game. It was an awful experience for all us who were present but, more pertinently, for David's friends, colleagues and his family, with whom I spent some time on Sunday. I would like to pass on my own personal condolences to o…

I raise with the Taoiseach the State's response to the emerging refugee crisis in continental Europe in light of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine that has already seen 2 million people displaced. It will be larger than anything seen since the Second World War. On the Irish response, have any efforts been made or planned to engage those already here, whether they are from Ukraine or, more pertinently, countries close to Ukraine, such as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania, to work with recently arrived…

I thank the Taoiseach for his detailed response. This is an issue that many of us raise with him regularly. The events in continental Europe at this time and the fear arising from them really put Brexit into context. Nevertheless, I have a few questions for the Taoiseach. Will he outline the ongoing discussions that will continue to take place between Commissioner Šefčovič and the British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, and her team on the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol and the importance thereof? Se…

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak in support of this extremely important motion. I thank the Minister for bringing it to the House following yesterday's Cabinet meeting. In combination with the hate crime Bill that is due to be published this summer, the Minister has clearly shown her leadership on an issue that is and that has always been a nasty part of our society, as has been alluded to quite clearly by Deputy Howlin. However, it has taken an edge in recent years because while society has become mor…

When I submitted this question two weeks ago, the content and tone of the Taoiseach’s meeting would have been very different from today. It is absolutely telling that when the Taoiseach finished his comments, he mentioned that he laid a wreath at a memorial to those who perished in the Holocaust. Just last week, we saw the graveyard of many people who had been killed by Nazi soldiers in Ukraine bombed again. My four supplementary questions might not relate directly to the Taoiseach's recent meeting but might be rel…

I am delighted to speak on the important occasion of International Women's Day. I am even more delighted to be following my good friend from college, Deputy Higgins. We have soldiered together for a long time as politicians and friends. There are three areas on which I will briefly focus. I could speak for an hour on each of them, as could many others in the House. The first relates to the report commissioned by the Ceann Comhairle from the forum tasked with examining how the Oireachtas can be made more family-frie…

As Russian tanks roll into the suburbs of Kyiv and as the Ukrainian President issues yet another desperate plea for solidarity, will the Irish Government support the fast-tracking of Ukrainian accession to the European Union?

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this very important debate and state my absolute support for this motion and the efforts the Government is making in this regard. In the few brief minutes I have before I share time with colleagues, I will hit on three points because we can have a discussion on so many different aspects that require attention. The first call I will make is for the Irish Government, in particular, to work with European partners directly on addressing the very real disinformation …

Will the Tánaiste confirm that the Government will not only seek wide ranging sanctions on Russian officials and entities but also officials and entities in Belarus, occupied South Ossetia and occupied eastern Ukraine which have aided and abetted this invasion? Will the Tánaiste elaborate on the preparatory work that has been done by the Government to accept large-scale refugees from invaded Ukraine? We are under no illusion that there is war in Europe today due to Russian aggression. Will the Irish Government expe…