Two of Sinn Féin's elected representatives went in 2018 as election monitors, not as part of the OSCE or as part of the UN or the EU, but as guests of the Venezuelan Government, to monitor those elections, which were a sham. They then attended his inauguration and now Sinn Féin accuses us of double standards. We saw that Venezuelan people in Dublin certainly said what they thought of Sinn Féin. We support international law, we support the enforcement of international law and we continue to engage with the United St…

I would like to begin by restating the Government’s commitment to achieving a just and lasting settlement of the conflict involving Palestinians and Israel. Appropriate, timely and effective action on this crisis has been a priority for the Government. Our foreign policy on this issue has been clear and consistent for decades, grounded in the commitment to uphold international law. We are in a better position now than we have been in recent months, notwithstanding everything that has happened. The agreement on a ce…

We recognise the Palestinian state, as do many other countries, but not everybody does. We need international consensus on that. It is a fragile moment and there is a need to keep positive momentum. The ceasefire is fragile and must be preserved. Much more needs to be done to scale up delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Opposition is not wrong. The people of Gaza have endured unimaginable suffering. We all see that every day. We need all crossings into Gaza fully opened for essential humanitarian aid. Effor…

Qualified.

I can say in the most general way that the Irish Government is fully aware of the situation in Sudan and has been vocal about it for some time. Members opposite have raised this from time to time as well. Significant funding has been given by the Government for humanitarian purposes in Sudan this year, and probably last year. The matter is on the agenda tomorrow at the Foreign Affairs Council. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, will be present. It was on the agenda at the previous Foreign Affairs Council, which I do not…

I will just speak generally. There are various issues concerning that conflict that I am not working on directly, so I do not have the detail. However, the Minister will raise all concerns at the Foreign Affairs Council. I am sure our ambassadors are also doing so at UN level. The Tánaiste was at the previous Foreign Affairs Council, where the matter was on the agenda. It is on the agenda again tomorrow. These issues are generally dealt with at the Council, and sometimes, of course, at the European Council itself. …

We have been strongly pushing for those types of sanctions. As the Deputy knows, we have been seen as one of the strongest at EU level. We have sought for some time the suspension of the trade agreement, which President von der Leyen proposed, and sanctions on violent settlers. These proposals and all the others put forward require Council decisions. Some, such as that to suspend the trade agreement, require a qualified majority, while others require unanimity. Other member states have considered or taken measures …

I have discussed this in the past couple of weeks with the Minister for justice, Deputy O’Callaghan. Work is ongoing in the Department of Justice on travel bans for certain individuals. That is happening at national level. We are also pushing at EU level. It is more relevant to the Schengen zone but we can proceed nationally. That is a matter that the Minister for justice is working on.

I have been saying for some months that the EU has leverage and should use it. We call for the measures President von der Leyen put forward in September and certainly support them. We do not believe they should be taken off the table while illegal occupations and annexations continue. There is an embryonic peace process that we want to support to bring genuine peace to the people of Palestine and Israel.

We want to keep these measures on the table. Some other member states do also. The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy wants to keep them on the table too. They require more than our support, however. The EU–Israel association agreement is an agreement between the EU and Israel and I do not believe there is any possibility for groups of member states to start veering out of it. It would have to be done at EU level. This is exactly what the Taoiseach would have said in the room at the Europea…

The detail of the matters Deputy Healy-Rae brought up are under the Department of justice. There was a discussion on Ukraine at the European Council where President Zelenskyy spoke. European leaders spoke pretty directly to him as well. The war against Ukraine is costing us all a lot of money. We need it to end for our financial and economic security, as well as our own security in general. We want that war to end. The EU must continue to put as much leverage - I again use that word "leverage" - on Russia. There we…

I just do not accept that we are asking anyone to gut the AI Act or GDPR. The whole simplification agenda is designed to cut red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy that are costing companies a lot of money and, quite frankly, jobs in all of our constituencies. At the same time, however, it will protect basic rights that we and the European Union have fought hard for and developed, such as the areas of workers’ rights, data privacy, equality and environmental protections. These areas are absolutely central to what the…

First, Ireland is one of the champions of overseas development aid.

We are known for that around the world. I am very proud of it. It is a consistent policy of my party to be as generous as possible because we know it is necessary in many of these countries. I am very proud of the work that our Department does, working with both Irish and local people on the ground in foreign countries. The very issues Deputy Ó Laoghaire raised will be on the agenda of the G20 in South Africa, where Ireland is a guest this year, and at the EU-African Union summit. The position of Ireland, as the De…

I wish to go back to the exact wording of the European Council because it is very important. Paragraph 30, which relates to all of the defence conclusions, states: "The above is without prejudice to the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain Member States, and takes into account the security and defence interests of all Member States, in accordance with the Treaties". That is a specific mention to Irish, Austrian, Cypriot and Maltese neutrality. Member states do feel a threat. If you go to…

We need to go to the defence industry------

-----regarding radar, sonar, equipment and material that we need for our Defence Forces. We absolutely will be spending that money. Our neutrality is well known and well noted but during our Presidency, we will be the independent arbitrator in the Presidency chair for the needs and necessities of all the member states. Defence still remains a member state competency. It is absolutely a member state competency. There are no instructions from the European Union as to what we do. We saw the SAFE mechanism recently, wh…

I will remind the Minister.

Mercosur has been raised and it will continue to be raised. There was a vote in the European Parliament on safeguarding measures yesterday and one at the Council of Ministers today. I met my French counterpart yesterday about a number of issues but, obviously, Mercosur was on the agenda. I met the French foreign minister the week before last. It is quite a topic of discussion. Clearly, France is one of the key countries. People have asked us here to continue to work with like-minded countries, and this is exactly w…

I will say this. We had all sorts of scare stories before about the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement a number of years ago. People went to the High Court and everything else. Trade with Canada has massively increased and more people are employed in all our constituencies because of that trade agreement.