I welcome the opportunity to engage on behalf of the Labour Party following the European Council meeting of 19 March. The meeting had an extensive agenda: Ukraine and the Middle East; competitiveness; defence; multilateralism; and democratic resilience. These are all complex challenges which have clearly become more challenging since that date, as the Taoiseach acknowledged. We have, unfortunately, seen further developments in the Middle East, with Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war only deepening there. In Brussels, on the morning of 19 March, I participated in the Party of European Socialists, PES, pre-Council leaders' meeting along with other PES leaders, including Spain's Pedro Sánchez and Commissioner Teresa Ribera. Last weekend, we had another engagement hosted by Prime Minister Sánchez in Barcelona in the shape of the Global Progressive Mobilisation summit, at which we heard addresses by global leaders of the left, including President Lula of Brazil, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Mia Mottley from Barbados and Elly Schlein from Italy. It was an inspiring gathering where we discussed challenges and opportunities facing the left across Europe and the world. What struck me was not just the scale of the crises we all face but also the clarity of the responses offered by those on the left and in the socialist movement internationally. As the Irish party within the Party of European Socialists and the S and D group, the Labour Party is proudly European and we assert the principles of a social Europe with an emphasis on climate action and an active state that can engage on housing, workers' rights and equality. The Spanish left Government has shown leadership on climate, renewables and so much more. I raise three points that the Minister of State might also bring back to the Taoiseach. I very much welcome the Taoiseach's comments and ambition that the Irish Presidency this year will see an acceleration on the steps towards EU accession for Ukraine. The Labour Party is proud to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine against the brutal regime of Putin and his colonial and imperialistic aggression against them. We are concerned that there are still Russian interests in Ireland, and we need to be clearer about sanctions for those. We very much welcome the change of government in Hungary and the fact that the €90 billion loan for Ukraine will now, it seems, be facilitated. That is hugely important and I welcome it. We will work the Government to ensure that during this Presidency, EU accession for Ukraine can be accelerated. A great deal more could be done on the US-Israel war, however. It is deeply disappointing that the EU is not taking further steps to ensure the suspension of the Israel trade agreement. We see that Israel is now leading in the bombing of southern Lebanon and is seeking to do to southern Lebanon what it has already done in Gaza. We all very much hope that the ceasefire will hold, but there are clearly huge accountability issues and sanctions that need to be undertaken against Israel. With the defeat of Orbán in Hungary, Netanyahu has lost what has been described as his "EU firewall" against sanctions. It is hoped that Ireland, along with Spain and other allies, will now be able to press harder on more sanctions against Israel and, in particular, the suspension and ending of the trade agreement, as well as the passing of the occupied territories Bill here at home. The implications of the illegal war being waged by Trump and Netanyahu against Iran and Lebanon and the energy shock that has generated have clearly shown just how exposed the EU is and how exposed Ireland, in particular, is given our over-reliance on imported fossil fuels. The S and D group in the European Parliament has called for two key measures to be adopted by the European Commission to deal with the enormous disadvantage being faced by citizens across Europe and in Ireland. First, it is calling for a temporary energy emergency regulatory tool to fast-track the development and roll-out of renewables. We have seen it done in Spain where energy costs are now four times cheaper than in Ireland. The group is also seeking strong measures to protect vulnerable households, including an EU-wide social leasing scheme to give people access to clean energy solutions without upfront costs. We see that the package coming from the European Commission also gives a facility to states to have a windfall levy on the taxes of fossil fuel companies. Let us do that in Ireland. Tax these windfall profits further but let us also accelerate away from our dependence on fossil fuels. Today is Earth Day. There is no better day to look for an urgent ramping up of our capacity to generate electricity through renewables. This Government has been very slow and indeed has been regressive compared to the previous Government. We need to see more and we will be pushing the Government on this. We have seen the benefits in Spain and elsewhere regarding energy costs, energy security and climate emissions.

Sentiment score: 0.23