I thank the Deputy for his question. As part of the Government’s commitment to supporting the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement and maintaining strong relationships, I remain in regular contact with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and with the parties. I met virtually with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 5 May, the day of the Assembly elections, to discuss a number of issues in that important context. Following the results of the elections in Northern Ireland, I spoke with the Sec…

Generally, the security co-operation discussion revolves around the co-operation between the Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI, and An Garda Síochána. If there are cases, and the Deputy has mentioned some to me in the past, of individuals in prison or awaiting trial that he would like me to raise with the Secretary of State to get an answer, I am happy to do that for him. At the most recent British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, no specific cases were raised. As I said, the security co-operation focus i…

To be honest, the focus of the conversations has been on trying to get stability and a return to a functioning Executive and Assembly as soon as possible after the election. This has been a divisive election, and that is not a criticism of the parties. At present, there is significant work to do to get the Assembly to elect a Speaker and to function and, importantly, to get an Executive up and running so Northern Ireland can ensure that people from Northern Ireland who are directly elected by people in Northern Ire…

As the question had a specific focus on congestion at the Port of Shanghai, I went to some trouble to try to get the Deputy an answer on this particular issue. The Department of Foreign Affairs, together with the embassy in Beijing and consulates general in Shanghai and Hong Kong, is closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation in China. This includes the current challenging circumstances in Shanghai, a city that has been under lockdown for more than a month. I am also aware of reports of shipping congestion at Shangh…

I have quite a lot of information on the number of citizens and so on that I can send to the Deputy afterwards if it would be helpful. He clearly has an interest in this issue. The Irish Embassy in Beijing, together with our consulates in Shanghai and Hong Kong, are working closely with State agencies to assist Irish businesses and citizens to manage the impact of the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in China. These are challenging circumstances. Movement in and out of China has become very difficult with flights at a…

Foreign direct investment has deeply embedded Ireland in global value supply chains and, in turn, supported Irish companies to access value chains driving productivity and innovation growth. The current geopolitical environment, coupled with the impact of Covid and the twin green and digital transitions, has placed increased focus on future global value supply chains. In this context, therefore, it is important to consider the associated risks and opportunities for Ireland. As I mentioned in my response earlier, th…

I am aware of reports of the scale of administrative detention currently in operation by the Israeli authorities. I have called on the Israeli authorities to end this practice completely. Ireland’s position on these issues is, and will continue to be, based on international law. Detainees must have the right to be informed of the charges underlying any detention, have access to legal assistance, and receive a fair trial. Ireland has repeatedly recalled to Israel the applicability of international human rights stand…

I have just told the Deputy about a range of things we have been doing in terms of raising the matter. However, Ireland does not control the foreign policy decisions of other countries. We try to make arguments that can build consensus around international action on a range of things, including the Middle East peace process, be it arbitrary detention, illegal expansion of settlements, settler violence, forced evictions or terrorism against Israeli citizens by Hamas and others. We raise these issues all the time. I …

We often have these discussions in respect of acting unilaterally on the assumption that Ireland doing something on a unilateral basis will force fundamental change internationally. That is not always the way it works. From my experience of international politics, you must build consensus and coalitions around change and pressure, which is why we are putting pressure on Russia as a collective in the EU. Does the Deputy think Ireland on its own would be able to change direction? I doubt it. As already stated, the Go…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 82, 83 and 85 together. There has been a lot about passports this evening, but I will keep talking about them if Members want me to. I will arrange to have the figures requested by the Deputies on passport applications from counties Dublin, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Galway and Donegal shared directly with them following this session.  Applications from various counties are distributed for processing across the three passport offices in Dublin and Cork on the basis of the type…

The Deputies have asked a lot of very fair questions and I will try to respond to them all. First, there was never a suggestion of a system for Oireachtas Members where they could apply for passports on behalf of the public.

We cannot turn Deputies' offices into a passport service. What we do have is an Oireachtas phone line that handles queries. It is not perfect but so far this year more than 10,000 calls have been taken on that line and the customer service hub has handled 95,000 queries this year. It is really busy and sometimes there are interruptions in the system, as there have been over the past few days, and when that happens and the public cannot get through on the lines, they contact their local Deputy, understandably, becau…

I can come back to the Deputy with more detail. This matter has been raised with me from a number of sources. My understanding is that this is a designation issue in respect of landing, as the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said. I am happy to talk to the line Minister and the SFPA and come back with more detail. I know it is causing concern in the north west.

I am pleased to be opening this debate, which has as its main focus the measures the Government is putting in place to address the accommodation needs of those fleeing Ukraine. Thus far, more than 27,000 people have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine. This is why the co-ordinated whole-of-government response that we have put in place is so crucial. Our domestic response cannot be divorced from the international context. Ireland's continued diplomatic support for Ukraine is an important part of today's debate also. We …

From a legal perspective, it might be helpful to the House if I did. I thank Senators for their accommodation, in particular the other party spokespersons. I thank Senator Malcolm Byrne and the other proposing Senators for bringing this Bill before the Seanad. I appreciate the honourable intentions and efforts of Senator Malcolm Byrne and his colleagues in bringing forward this Bill and I fully concur with his sentiments and the principles he is seeking to protect. We all hold our Defence Forces in high esteem. I a…

We will work with the Senator on that to produce amendments that can be introduced on Committee Stage to try to deliver legislation that is fit for purpose and can secure the necessary prosecutions, should it come to that. I ask everybody to work with me on that and we will try to do this as quickly as we can.

I will be there tomorrow.

I do not think I can come back because I am not the sponsoring person.

We can do it today. It is called a battlegroup. We have been in it for years.

There is nothing new.