I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this important and timely debate on this legislation. I thank the Minister of State for bringing it to the House. Like my colleague, Deputy Catherine Murphy, I agree that at some point we need to look at the process of keeping up with the transposition of European directives and ensuring that Ireland is not a laggard when it comes to implementation of European legislation. That said, this is worthwhile and important legislation, even though there are a number of amendme…

I will speak about Question No. 5, which is in my name. I thank the Taoiseach for his ever-fulsome response about his recent meetings with the First Minister and the leader of the DUP in Northern Ireland. However, when will he meet them next? Will there be a next meeting before there is an assembly election? What can the Taoiseach do in the office he holds to ensure those meetings take place involving not just himself but also Ministers from this Government and Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive? It is una…

I support the motion of absolute and full confidence in the Minister, Deputy Coveney, continuing as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence at this crucial time for our State and the European Union. Like a number of others in this House, I have been fortunate over the past four years to work extremely closely with the Minister as this State faced one of the gravest challenges of a generation, the threat of Brexit, the threat of a return of a hard border and the devastation of so many vital industries.…

This Government and the previous Government have rightly said many times that Irish citizens in the North will not be left behind. Unfortunately, when it comes to full access to the EU digital Covid-19 certificate, that is exactly what is happening. A previous suggestion by a Minister that Irish citizens in the North, people living in the South who have been vaccinated in the North and Irish citizens living in Great Britain will not have full access to the EU digital Covid-19 certificate until phase 2 is simply not…

I thank the Taoiseach for his timely and detailed update on the vitally important British-Irish Council meeting. I stress my belief that the meetings of the council need to be regularised, formalised and nailed into the diary years in advance. Going forward, it would be appropriate for the Government to expect the British Prime Minister to attend these meetings rather than sending the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in his stead. While saying that, I am not trying to take away from the position the latter hold…

I thank the Taoiseach for a detailed synopsis of the important European Council meeting last week. There are a number of points I would like to raise and indeed I have a couple of questions the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, might be able to address when he comes back in. It is simply impossible to deal with all the issues that were covered at this really important Council meeting so I am going to focus on just four, two of which are related to each other. The first relates to the European Union's response…

No, I am happy to pass to the next speaker.

In the past week, we have been reminded of the very worrying rise in knife crime across our capital city, following a number of high-profile incidents. What stage is the Government at with the new violence reduction strategy it promised? Will the Government consider a knife amnesty, which has worked before in this jurisdiction, when it was used in Limerick, and has been very successful in Scotland? Unlike some parties in the House, the Government parties do not walk away when it comes to matters of criminal justice…

I thank the Taoiseach in absentia not just for his detailed preview of the upcoming European Council meeting, but also for his review of the previous European Council meeting which I particularly appreciated. As I said at the time, it was disappointing that the House was unable to have stand-alone statements on it, but I truly appreciate the opportunity the Chamber had to have an extensive and meaningful debate on the situation in Belarus in light of the downing of an Irish-owned aeroplane there. I look forward to …

I am delighted to raise this Topical Issue matter. I appreciate the opportunity given by the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, coming to the Chamber to take this Topical Issue matter. At the weekend, the world's eyes descended on a beautiful part of Cornwall, St. Ives, for the important G7 summit. It was the first G7 summit since the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic and the change of administration in the United States. It was an important change of administration which gave great hop…

I appreciate the Minister of State's clarity, not just in his response here this evening but also in the continued discussions and iterations from him and the Minister, Deputy Coveney, in such a calm, reasoned, sensible and realistic manner. Even though the G7 should have been talking about far weightier issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate emergency and vaccine solidarity across the world, I welcome the engagement of all G7 members on the legacy of Brexit and the importance of the Northern Ireland pro…

As we all know, a dynamic and open trading policy is vital for the country with and through the European Union. Will the Tánaiste and the Ministers of State present give a report on the recent trade Council meeting of European trade ministers?

I am encouraged to hear the Tánaiste's response in respect of the clear shift in the global approach to trade following the change of administration in the USA, especially the opportunities presented by a closer trading relationship between the EU and the US. We should acknowledge that the EU member state set to proportionately benefit the most from a closer trading and investment relationship is, of course, Ireland. It is good to see the WTO put back at the heart of global trade. It is vital for a rules-based demo…

I will use this opportunity to pivot to discussions on transatlantic trade opportunities, given that was the main focus, and the opportunity to have the US trade representative contribute via videoconference. All these things present great opportunities for the European Union as a whole. The Tánaiste talks understandably about the logjams in respect of the steel sector and aviation. It is not necessarily a big issue for Irish manufacturers but a closer US-EU trade relationship matters. I do not imagine we will get …

Despite the affirmations by certain politicians and commentators, Brexit is not "done". Indeed, Brexit has just started. Will the Tánaiste and the Minister of State report on the impact of the trade and co-operation agreement between the EU and the UK on Ireland after six months of its operation?

There is quite a lot to take out from the Minister of State's response. I will try to break it up into a couple of areas. I pay credit to him, to colleagues and everyone in his Department and relevant Departments such as Revenue and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for the extensive preparatory work that was done ahead of Brexit. We can see that it was necessary. The Minister of State said that Ireland was one of the member states most impacted by Brexit. It is quite clear that we are the most imp…

I appreciate the reply. The Minister of State said it is a flavour of the figures, but it gives us a stark idea of the challenges ahead, even though most of those challenges are masked by the impact of the pandemic. My supplementary question is on the development of new markets, to which the Minister of State alluded. In the previous questions we talked about the potential new markets through EU trade deals with third-party countries, but in the context of supply chain and imports, I particularly and crucially want…

I sincerely thank the Minister of State for that substantive response. I am slightly enthused by it because every crisis presents an opportunity and the pandemic crisis presents us with an opportunity to address the major problems that exist within our naturalisation process, problems that landed at the doorsteps of so many citizens and wannabe citizens across the State. Deputy Carroll MacNeill eloquently talks about the families that are separated and put at risk. Is it feasible, with the major reforms and staffin…

I accept the Minister of State's response although I will note a tone of disappointment. If the French can do it why can we not? More pertinently, I would like to point to the elephant in the room, an issue I have raised with the Minister of State's predecessors, namely the exorbitant cost of the citizenship process. Ireland has the second most expensive naturalisation process in the European Union. It is topped only by Austria. We talk about front-line workers in low-paid jobs who would love to apply for citizensh…

This week, yet another meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council could not go ahead due to a boycott by certain unionist politicians in Northern Ireland. In light of the Taoiseach's meeting this evening with the new leader of the DUP and, indeed, the new leader of political unionism, what will the Government do to reaffirm the commitments in the programme for Government to North-South relations, reconciliation and the Good Friday Agreement? The institutions of the Good Friday Agreement cannot be allowed to bec…