I thank the Deputy. I think I am right in saying that approximately 17 million people now live in refugee camps throughout the world. It is a higher figure than ever before. When we think about the scale of this and the commonality in terms of causes of conflict, tension and people being driven from their homes we begin to realise that most of the problems that drive mass migration are man made or linked to the actions of men or states. There is a significant amount of work for the UN to do. I am really looking for…

It has been a while since I have been questioned by the Deputy. Normally, I have been used to looking at him over on the other side on Thursday morning. It is nice to be on the same side for a change. Ireland will take up its seat on the UN Security Council for the 2021-2022 term on 1 January. We will engage constructively across the Council agenda, which has nearly tripled since Ireland last held a seat 20 years ago. The last time Ireland was on the Security Council, it was dealing with nine files concerning confl…

Climate and its contribution to instability and insecurity will be a big part of what we are doing. We need to be clear, however, that there are powerful states on the Security Council which do not accept that climate change has anything to do with international security and has no place on the UN Security Council agenda. The first thing we have to do is work with other member states to actually ensure that climate change and climate justice is part of the security agenda globally. My understanding is that ten of t…

The Deputy is correct on young people. We need to try to involve young people and women on much of the post-conflict management, conflict prevention and the accountability agenda, which is important from an Irish perspective. We need to be a country that holds in some cases big powerful friends of ours to account through international mechanisms and the Rome Statute. There was an agreement between my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that if we were successful in getting onto the Securi…

The advancement of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation goals is a signature foreign policy for Ireland. It will continue to be important throughout our membership on the UN Security Council. My Department will engage constructively on efforts to combat nuclear proliferation with a strong focus on situations on the Security Council agenda, namely Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK. Ireland, like our EU partners, takes the view that the joint comprehensive plan of action, JCPoA, endorsed b…

The Deputy is dead right on this issue. Many Irish people have no idea of the contribution this little country has made in the UN in this area. We have real credibility in this space. I have seen that in New York when Ireland has been a country that is in many ways like a magnet for others in terms of consulting with on non-proliferation and disarmament issues. I would welcome an opportunity in this House to remind people of the role we have played since the 1960s in this space and the continuing relevance and oppo…

I agree with that and let us see if we can facilitate that debate because it would be an interesting discussion for many people. One of the reasons that I referred to both Iran and North Korea in my response is that they are very much active and divisive files. North Korea is less divisive on the Security Council but Iran is divisive because the European Union and the US have taken very different lines on it. That Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, issue is likely to be something that Ireland will be involv…

I advise the Deputy that my Department advised or assisted more than 8,000 people to return safely to Ireland as part of our consular response to the Covid-19 crisis. The priority was to help those normally resident in Ireland to return home safely on commercial flights where possible and, where not possible, on flights chartered by the EU and other partners. The challenges to these efforts, including the closure of borders, airports and airspace, and the suspension of many services were significant and the scale o…

I think we are mixing two issues here. The repatriation efforts were primarily for people who reside in Ireland and were away. They might have been students, people working away temporarily or people on holidays. There were a number of people who had been away for quite some time and felt the need to come home for health reasons. I can give the Deputy all the figures and data about where those people came from and what we spent and so on. We generally did not pay for flights, apart obviously from the ones we charte…

That is a more general issue, not just linked to Covid-19, although it may obviously have been a particular issue during the Covid crisis when people felt they wanted to come home for family reasons and so on. Deputy Cannon, the previous Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora, did some good work relating to people coming home from the US to live in Ireland, including the challenges they had around setting up bank accounts, identity issues, driver's licence issues and other practical things that are …

To respond more generally, as this House knows, Ireland and the United States share strong ties of kinship and enjoy close diplomatic and political relations, as well as enduring economic, cultural and social connections. These deep connections span right across the political spectrum in the US. With each successive Administration in the White House and with successive Irish Governments, the relationship has been valued and strengthened to the benefit of our people and that continues today. I was in Washington last…

That is why the election is getting the kind of profile and media attention it is, even through extraordinary times in the United States. If people are not telling the truth, I expect that to be exposed in a democratic contest such as this. As I said, we need to be careful not to interfere in this election. Having spoken to many people in Washington, regardless of what candidates say, the system of democracy in the United States is robust and strong, and will ensure that, after people have voted in the presidential…

Divisive language in politics that pits people against each other is never something that should be supported. Supporting or encouraging racist forces is something that should never be supported and I hope will always be stamped out in this country and in other democracies. I am not somebody who is afraid of mincing my words on some of these issues. As I said, we are a few weeks away from an election in the United States. We need to allow that process to take its course. I have never visited the United States at a …

I am very concerned at developments relating to LGBTI+ people in Poland. The principles of equality and non-discrimination are enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It is important that these principles are protected and promoted throughout the Union. The Government has expressed its concerns regarding this issue publicly. My colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, has written to his counterpart in the Polish Government in the past month, emphasisin…

I will commit to writing to my counterpart. There is a new Polish foreign minister whom I have not got to know yet, but I have spoken to him briefly. It is worth noting that the Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, quite pointedly referred to this issue when she gave her state of the Union address a number of weeks ago. That was an indication that the European Commission takes it seriously. The Commission has responsibility to uphold the treaties and, by doing that, the value system of the European Union. I …

I thank the Deputy. I wish to acknowledge the work done by the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, Deputy O'Gorman, who continues to work in this area. He has spoken to me about it and has expressed real concern. It is important that we try to advocate for and deliver change. We have to figure out the best way of doing that. Sometimes within the European Union that is not necessarily done by penalties and punishment. Sometimes it is more effective to try to do it through political persuasio…

I thank the Deputy. It is unusual that it has taken this long to get to the Middle East peace process in foreign affairs questions. I am glad we have gotten there at nearly 12.30 a.m. Israel's announcement on 13 August that it will suspend plans to annex parts of the occupied Palestinian territory is, of course, welcome, although that proposal should never have been on the table in the first place as far as I am concerned. The EU High Representative, Vice President Josep Borrell, also welcomed the announcement on b…

There is a difference between annexation, applying Israeli sovereignty to Palestinian land and expansion of settlements, which is also in my view illegal internationally and should not be happening. The proposals around annexation were about permanently extending Israeli sovereignty to elements of the West Bank. Having said that, the expansion of settlements that we have seen in recent years is almost like creeping annexation and has caused great tensions, understandably so, with Palestinian communities who simply …

My position is well understood on that and the legal position is crystal clear on this issue. Deputies can keep calling on me to do something that they know I cannot do but they want to do this for political reasons. It does not advance the arguments very much.

It is actually not. We have done a great amount to try to advance the cause of the two-state solution and to focus the world’s attention on illegal settlements and their expansion. We have contributed to international pressure that has prevented Israel from moving ahead with plans to annex large parts of the West Bank in the summer. We have been active at UN level and have been involved in multiple resolutions. We have been very active at EU level and we continue to be. Only last week I spoke to my German counterpa…