Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht an cheist. Sula fhreagraím í, ba mhaith liom mo chomhghairdeas a roinnt le roinnt Éireannaigh óga as éachtaí den scoth ar bhain siad amach ag an deireadh seachtaine agus le déanaí. I thank Deputy McDonald for her question. Before I answer it, I want to acknowledge the very considerable achievement by Irish young people over the weekend. In particular I commend and acknowledge the success and outstanding achievement of Jessie Buckley in winning an Academy Award, which is a remarkable achievement for the young Kerry woman. I also acknowledge the role of the Irish rugby team in winning the Triple Crown. Deputy McDonald has raised a very important point. At the heart of it, what it reveals is that once a war starts people are unaware as to what the consequences of that war will be. We can now see, however, that the cost of oil has risen quite considerably and a barrel of crude oil today is in the region of over $100 per barrel. That is a very significant consequence and it is impacting consumers not just in Ireland but throughout the world. As has been indicated by the Taoiseach in the United States, and by the Tánaiste, the Government will respond to this. However, what we are not going to do is engage in a kneejerk response just for the purpose of being seen to do something immediately. Instead, the Government will consider the situation and what has been indicated by the Taoiseach is that most probably we will look at the issue of excise duties for the purpose of cutting them to take pressure off consumers. It is also important to note that any measures that are going to be introduced we hope will be targeted at individuals who need them the most. I have to say I was very pleased to see that Sinn Féin's finance Minister in Northern Ireland, John O'Dowd, has adopted this position of the Irish Government. I read yesterday that he said when Sinn Féin in government is going to introduce measures to alleviate the cost of fuel in Northern Ireland, they will be targeted at those in most need. Similarly, this will be the case here. They will be targeted measures to ensure that those in most need are the ones who can recover from them. I noted that in her question Deputy McDonald did not mention the constant narrative of Sinn Féin, which is that we need to cut the carbon tax. I welcome the fact she recognises the importance of the carbon staying as a constant measure to ensure the considerable expenses being met from the carbon tax continue. One thing for certain is that what the oil crisis reveals to us is that we need to ensure we reduce and, hopefully, end our dependency on Middle Eastern oil. The only way we are going to do this is by ensuring that Ireland becomes a fully renewable country in terms of being able to produce our own renewables. I am not going to give Deputy McDonald an answer as to when measures are going to be introduced by the Irish Government but I can tell her that those deliberations are ongoing, just as they are ongoing in Northern Ireland with Sinn Féin's own Government, where it has the finance Ministry and the Ministry for the economy. I want Deputy McDonald to be aware, however, that my colleague, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, asked the energy security group to meet on 6 March to assess the implications of the conflict in the Middle East and the Gulf region. The group reviewed current supply and pricing conditions across oil, gas and electricity. I know that in recent days the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, wrote to retail electricity and gas suppliers, as well as to fuel suppliers, to emphasise the importance of reducing the exposure for Irish consumers from the price shocks created by geopolitical events. I assure Deputy McDonald that the Irish Government will act but we are not going to act simply to meet a deadline put in place by her or by others. We will come forward with a considered response. It will involve the Government meeting to discuss the nature of this response. Deputy McDonald will be aware that when there was a war previously, we responded very positively from the point of view of the Irish consumer and we will do so again.
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Sinn Féin is in government in Northern Ireland. It has money to reduce the cost of fuel in Northern Ireland yet its finance and economy Ministers have done nothing about it as of yet, so it is a bit rich of the Deputy to criticise the Irish Government for not acting fast enough-----
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-----when her own Government has done nothing in respect of it in Northern Ireland.
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People on the Government benches are well aware of the consequences of rising fuel prices.
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That is why after the invasion of Ukraine-----
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-----measures were taken by the Irish Government to assist consumers in respect of those rising prices. That is why the Taoiseach indicated when he was in the United States that measures are being considered and it is likely that there will be measures introduced-----
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-----to alleviate the pressure upon Irish people at the petrol pump-----
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-----and at the heating oil level. We will decide it ourselves. We will not decide it based on when Sinn Féin wants an answer from the Government.
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Unlike Sinn Féin, we will give it consideration-----
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-----and we will not engage in kneejerk reactions.
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Come back to us when Sinn Féin has done something in Northern Ireland.
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Any fair-minded person looking at the events in the White House yesterday would recognise that the Taoiseach did an excellent job-----
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-----in extremely challenging circumstances. Obviously, had Deputy Bacik been there, she would have dealt with it completely differently and more effectively-----
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-----on behalf of the Irish people.
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Of course, we know what would have happened had she been the Taoiseach because she had made the decision in advance of the visit that the Taoiseach should not go there.
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Had the Labour Party been in government, there would have been no engagement in respect of the United States of America.
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It was a very important message that the Taoiseach delivered. It is an extremely difficult time in terms of the relationship between the United States and Europe. I thought it was a real advantage for the Taoiseach to be there yesterday, as the leader of a European country that is not a member of NATO. I think he did Ireland and Europe proud in terms of setting out the values of Europe and, indeed, in setting back some of the rhetoric of President Trump, which as everyone can appreciate can be difficult at times. I also welcome what the Taoiseach had to say not just in respect of Keir Starmer, but also in respect of Europe being a great place to live and, indeed, in respect of immigration. The Taoiseach did emphasise in respect of immigration that there was a rules-based system operating not just in Ireland, but throughout Europe. One of the criticisms of President Trump's regime is that there are no rules in respect of immigration in Europe. That clearly is not the case. The Taoiseach deserves to be commended in respect the message he delivered yesterday. In terms of what Deputy Bacik said about immigration law in Ireland, as I have repeatedly said, the Government wants to ensure that we have a rules-based system so that people will know whether, according to those rules, they qualify to stay in Ireland or, if they do not qualify, that they have to leave. There is nothing performative about deportations. They are an essential part of Ireland's immigration strategy, and neither I nor the rest of the Government are going to apologise for them. If we do not have deportations, I would like Deputy Bacik to tell me in her reply what the response should be when somebody with a deportation order refuses to leave the country. Deputy Bacik also criticised the new immigration policy that is being formulated by the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, and me in the Department of justice. For many years, we have not had a migration strategy in Ireland and it is important now that we formulate one. It has been too much developed on a haphazard basis. I think everyone will benefit from seeing a written down policy in respect of a migration strategy. Deputy Bacik criticised me for including within that policy paper that was drafted a number of weeks, if not months ago, a reference to the fact that immigration policy should be for the benefit of the Irish people. It is astonishing that I have to stand up here and say any policy I develop is not going to be for the benefit of the Italian people or for others globally, but for the benefit of the Irish people, in the same way that the Minister, Deputy Heydon, would develop an agriculture strategy that would be for the benefit of the Irish people.
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Each year, my Department issues tens of thousands of visas on foot of work permits granted by the Department of enterprise. We are a very open economy. We welcome in migrant workers. In fact, if the Deputy looks at the Irish workforce, we have a significant number of workers who come from overseas. We have had a very positive experience with migrants who have come to Ireland to work. We have done a really good job in integrating them, notwithstanding the fact that there are people out there who want to politicise it, polarise it and create violence between different groups in our society. I believe the Government has done a very effective job in respect of it. However, it is important to ensure there is a rules-based system and the humanity and compassion Deputy Bacik referred to is very much built into the statutory regime we have here, whether it is International Protection Bill or the rules that operate in respect of work visas. We have been very welcoming to people who have come to this country. We are an open economy. We welcome them in but we must have a rules-based system as well.
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I thank Deputy Cairns for her question. Obviously, it evokes a very painful and disturbing part of our history. In fairness to this Government and indeed previous Governments, there has been a process of trying to ensure that women who are survivors of mother and baby homes and, indeed, children who were born there are provided with recompense and acknowledgement by the State over the past ten-to-15 years or so. Nothing is ever enough for the pain that people went through, particularly the pain of mothers having children taken from them at a very young age. Deputy Cairns referred to the commission of investigation report into mother and baby homes and it, as she knows, carried out a cartographic and landscape assessment of possible unrecorded burial arrangements in Bessborough. It also carried out a site survey and consulted with people on responses to its appeal seeking information about burials there. It concluded that it was likely that some of the children who died at Bessborough were buried in the grounds, but it was unable to find any physical or documentary evidence of this. As no evidence of locations was found, the commission did not consider it feasible to excavate the full available site, which amounts to 60 acres, or the former 200-acre estate, parts of which have now been built on. I empathise and acknowledge the pain that survivors from Bessborough feel at the news that the site is to be developed in a way they feel does not give recognition to the terrible actions that went on there previously. Planning permission has been granted. The Deputy knows as well as I do that the Government cannot interfere in respect of planning applications. I do not know whether an appeal has been lodged, but if it has not, that is an avenue available to the survivors. With regard to other available avenues, the Deputy asked for the State to purchase the site. Unless there is specific, strong cartographic evidence as to where bodies are buried, we could find ourselves buying a vast site for the purpose of carrying out excavations that could take an interminable period of time. We know what is happening in Tuam at present, which is a small location. I had the honour of being there and seeing the size of that location previously. If we were to buy a site the size of Bessborough and start excavations, I would be extremely concerned at the length of time that would take. Ultimately, I do not think it would provide the type of support and appropriate response that all of us in this House want to provide to survivors. I will raise and talk to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in respect of it. I understand the concern but purchasing the site is not the answer.
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We want to be honest with people. We do not want to mislead the 829 families into believing that, by purchasing the site, we will be able to excavate and identify burial grounds. We need to be honest with people in this regard. Just so the House is aware, on foot of the Government’s action plan for survivors and former residents of mother and baby homes, the former Minister for housing, Deputy O’Brien, wrote to local authorities requesting that development plan processes consider incorporating appropriate measures to ensure the protection of unrecorded burial sites. That is an issue that must be dealt with by the local authority in whose area Bessborough is placed. The action plan also contains commitments in relation to dignified, local memorialisation of known or agreed burial sites. There is no point in purchasing the land and old home unless there is a realistic prospect of being able to identify burial grounds within them. Otherwise, we are just prolonging the suffering and pain of individuals who were in Bessborough.
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I thank the Deputy for his question. I am surprised he started with an invocation of Joseph Kent, who is one of the leaders of the MAGA movement in the United States of America.
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It is just curious that the Deputy should happen to rely upon him and quote what he said.
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I repeat what I said to Deputy Bacik, which is that what the Taoiseach did yesterday in the White House was extremely important from Ireland and Europe's point of view. We are, as the Deputy will know, at a particularly important time in the geopolitical relationship between the United States and Europe. A very significant break has taken place in that relationship, which has existed for ever 100 years. The focus of that the break is in NATO. As I said earlier, there was a real benefit that the Taoiseach was out there as the leader of a European country that is not a member of NATO, but he was able to emphasise the importance Ireland places on the rules-based system and the international order. That is in our Constitution. We have consistently done that. We have consistently had a record of being a country that believes in the peaceful resolution of disputes, not the resolution of disputes through military force. The Taoiseach has to deal with the circumstances with which he is faced. Obviously, if Deputy Boyd Barrett was Taoiseach, he would not have gone to the United States-----
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-----and that is very clear. He would not have gone. I know Deputy Bacik would not have gone-----
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In fairness, Deputies McDonald and Cairns would have gone, so I wish them well when they are in government together deciding whether they will go to the United States next year or whenever they are in government.
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Deputy Boyd Barrett would not have gone. There is a real benefit in the Taoiseach going there and being able to speak out frankly, more so than any other international leaders who have been there recently have done. The Taoiseach was able to speak out in respect of Keir Starmer-----
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-----in respect of immigration and in respect of Ireland's view that we should resolve disputes through pacific methods. We cannot emphasise that enough. However, the reality is that in politics, as I am sure the Deputy is aware, self-awareness is an important characteristic. It applies to all of us individually. It also applies to us as a country. Ireland is a small, non-military country. What we say is effective, in terms of the diplomacy we have and standing up to people who are our friends and telling them that we think they have gone down the wrong road in what they are doing.
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Ireland has a strong voice. The Taoiseach emphasises that. The Deputy just saw what was stated in front of the cameras yesterday. There is ongoing engagement between ambassadors and diplomats in the United States. Nobody wants to see these disputes resolved through force. I agree with Deputy Carthy when he said that no-one ever achieved anything from bombing a country. He was right in that respect, notwithstanding the irony of it. Similarly, we need to emphasise to the United States that there is no long-term solution through bombing Iran because that is not going to achieve the political objectives that are sought.
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The Deputy mentioned the Mayor of New York, Mamdani. Of course, he did go to the White House. He is not refusing to meet President Trump as a result of what has happened in Iran. The Deputy's position is not consistent when it comes to engagement. The Irish Government believes there should be engagement with people when it comes to seeking to resolve disputes. The Deputy's view is to stay away from it. We believe, when you look at the history of Ireland and what we have achieved, that we are much better off engaging with people, particularly our friends. He also mentioned what is happening at Shannon Airport. The issue of what is happening in the Middle East is happening in the eastern Mediterranean. That is where the aircraft carriers from the United States are based. All foreign military or state aircraft wishing to overfly or land in the State require diplomatic clearance. The Deputy's charge against the Irish Government is incorrect. It is at times like this that our neutrality-----
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-----stands to us, and the fact that we are not a member of NATO stands to us. I again commend the Taoiseach for the great performance he put up yesterday.
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