As well as the people of Venezuela.
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That is not true.
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Can we take a few questions and I will respond and then take a few more?
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If that is okay. I do not want to forget any question if I can avoid it. On Gaza, significant aid was announced by the Minister this week. The European Council discussed the Middle East at some length during the meeting in December. The Irish Government is focused on support for the people there. That is important and the European Council supported the ceasefire, supports the commitment the EU has to a just and lasting peace based on a two-state solution in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions everyone is only too familiar with. They talk about implementation as well, how we achieve our objectives, stressing the need for rapid, safe and unimpeded delivery and sustained distribution of humanitarian aid at scale into Gaza, including via the Cyprus-Gaza maritime corridor Deputy Seán Crowe mentioned, to supplement land routes. In fairness to the European Council and certainly to the Taoiseach, the idea is to get as much aid as possible - a surge of aid - into Gaza. It is badly needed. The European Council called in particular for basic things like shelter, winter equipment and medical items to be allowed in. That is important. We have robust checks on our overseas development aid. I say that to Deputy O'Flynn. It is a very important part of the work we do. Some of it goes to international bodies, some to state entities and some to religious bodies, including a lot of Catholic charities around the world, to make sure people who badly need it get the help and support they need. We are talking about, particularly in relation to Gaza, food and medical supplies, and covers for the winter for the bad weather conditions in Ukraine. There is an element of defence support there, but I can talk about one project I visited, which the Irish Government funded in association with Lithuania and the European Union. It was an underground school to allow children to continue their education during the war and also to give the local community somewhere to go when the bombs rain down on it, which unfortunately they continue to do. Hunger strikers in the UK were not discussed at the European Council. Everyone will have huge empathy for anyone on hunger strike, but it is not a matter I have addressed as Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs and it was not a matter on the agenda of the European Council. Regarding what Deputy Tóibín said, I certainly had no information about it until he mentioned it here. It took me quite a while to find it. I found the relevant article and paragraph and I would not pay too much heed to it, quite frankly. I have no information about it, but I can assure the Deputy that there are no proposals for a European defence pact - none whatsoever - and even if there were, Ireland could not support it without a referendum of the people. That is in the Constitution.
Sentiment score: 0.09
Briefly, on that last point on Horizon Europe and PEACEPLUS, the discussion is currently under way on the multi-annual financial framework. That is discussed at my council every month and they are two of our most important objectives, along with of course, the Common Agricultural Policy. It is our number one objective to get a fully funded and separate Common Agricultural Policy. The European leaders had a brief discussion on the multi-annual financial framework and they will ultimately decide the budget. In the meantime, we will continue the negotiations and that will climax during our Presidency. I can absolutely assure Deputies the Common Agricultural Policy, Horizon Europe and the PEACEPLUS programme, which benefits the North of Ireland and the Border counties, are very important. Regarding Mercosur and our MEPs, we do not have a whip on our MEPs; our MEPs can make the decisions. Barry Cowen wrote a really good article where he said he was against it and was voting against it but, in fairness to him, he set out the pros and cons. If an MEP was to vote for Mercosur, they would take into account what the Deputies are saying about beef, I have no doubt, but they would also take into account what may be the most important pharmaceutical plant in the world at present, Eli Lilly in Kinsale, in the constituency of Deputy Michael Collins, which will have a big drop in tariffs as a result of this. They will probably think about Liebherr in Killarney. Again, if that company is exporting to Mercosur countries it will experience a huge drop in tariffs and that will create and sustain employment in the Deputies' constituencies and constituencies all over the country.
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Sorry, farmers------
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-----and the multinational companies in Little Island in Deputy O'Flynn's constituency. However, I have said all along, and the Government has said this consistently, that there is an issue with beef. Let us be clear what the issue is not, however. The issue is not standards within the European Union because the agreement specifically makes provision, and this continues no matter what way this goes at the end of the day, and it includes of beef that is already coming into the European market and that 99,000 tonnes which are already here. Tariffs are being reduced-----
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No, it is coming directly into the European Union. With tariffs-----
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It is coming in directly at the moment.
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To be absolutely clear, the rule is that animal, plant and food product placed on the European market has to comply with the EU sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.
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This is non-negotiable and applies regardless of the Mercosur trade agreement. In fact, they are specifically provided for in the Mercosur trade agreement.
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Countries and establishments that produce food which comes into the EU market have to comply with EU law. There is an issue. There is no question-----
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-----that there is an issue relating to beef farmers in the Mercosur agreement and I have said that all along. There is no question, particularly in relation to price, because that 99,000 tonnes already coming into the European Union will have a lower tariff. That is not in doubt. The Deputies are telling me we should be telling the European MEPs what to do, but what people like Barry Cowen have done, without being told to do it, is to work on safeguards for farmers, whether this comes into effect or not. He has been working diligently. Other MEPs can vote in whatever way they see fit on behalf of their constituents. The factors they will take into account will include places like Eli Lilly and Liebherr; there is no question about that. Eli Lilly is one of the most important pharmaceutical plants with huge potential all round the world.
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This will open new opportunities for them and for machinery as well. All I am saying is-----
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We are not sacrificing anybody-----
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The Government has voted against it.
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I will move on to fishing.
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The fishing was not a good story. That was an outcome not of the European Council the Taoiseach attended but of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council and it will result in severely reduced fishing opportunities for Ireland this year.
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I acknowledge that this has had a devastating impact on rural communities. The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, worked very hard in relation to it, talking to other countries. He went around and visited them and lobbied them-----
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-----and negotiated at the table, but those member states-----
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-----and the member states were mentioned here, choose to block the invocation of the Hague preferences for this year. This is a protection measure for Ireland. A number of options have been outlined here in the Dáil. No doubt any option will be considered by the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, but what he is specifically doing is establishing a working group under Food Vision 2030 to develop a framework of support for the sector to address the challenges.
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I have not answered most of them.
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That is fine.
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In relation to Sudan, Sudan has been discussed at the European Council on many occasions, including comprehensive conclusions agreed at the October Council which the European Union is now following up on. Since then, it has been discussed at the Foreign Affairs Council. It is an issue that the Taoiseach raises on a regular basis. We have been accused of double standards in relation to Venezuela but everybody now agrees that Maduro was illegitimately elected. Why then, under Mary Lou McDonald's leadership, were two Sinn Féin members sent, not only to the inauguration of Maduro but to monitor the elections that were described by everybody else as a sham election?
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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 States. In relation to Greenland, I will have a call with my Danish counterpart tomorrow. That is an issue we will keep on the agenda. We are in full solidarity with the people of Greenland, in particular, and with the people of Denmark. Other issues that the Taoiseach did not address today but which were discussed included European security and defence, migration, the Pact for the Mediterranean, disinformation and foreign information manipulation, and the macro-regional strategy for the Atlantic, which is a new strategy that should be developed between Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. On the defence issues, it is fairly clear Europe is not at war but we are not entirely at peace either. That is a fair comment that has been made. In December, the European Council condemned recent hybrid attacks against the EU and its member states. The European Council called for accelerated efforts to strengthen resilience, protect critical infrastructure, and to prevent, deter and respond to hybrid attacks in the EU. Even in the period since the last European Council meeting, we have seen further instances of damage or disruption to underseas cables in the Baltic Sea. Ireland is not immune from such threats and we take them extremely seriously. We have seen the increase in hybrid activity directed towards the EU - we have seen that in social media quite a lot - and we are actively and constructively engaging in the development of EU policies aimed at combating hybrid threats, in particular Russia's campaign of hybrid activity. This is a threat to social order and, indeed, to the economies in the European Union. The sense of threat is felt keenly across the European Union. For many of our fellow member states, this threat is ever present. I saw this when I visited Latvia and Lithuania to meet with my EU affairs and defence counterparts. To meet their defence spending targets, some of our EU colleagues are, of their own volition, making drastic and difficult decisions to cut salaries and pensions. I want to be clear that, from my observations and discussions, they are not being driven by ideology. They are not being driven by the European Union. They are being driven by the reality that they, as individual countries, see and face themselves. Russian activity represents an attempt to divide EU member states and, in particular, to weaken our resolve on Ukraine. We fully support all the tools available to deal with these issues. On migration, at the European Council the leaders agreed conclusions on migration. The conclusions took stock of progress in managing unplanned migration and called for intensified work to continue. Europe must address the shared challenge of unplanned migration. This can be done through collective effort by having a system of responsibility and solidarity regarding the reception and management of protection applicants. Ireland supports ongoing efforts to adopt the Pact on Migration and Asylum and we have opted in to the some of the non-Schengen measures as well as the EU asylum agency. Some of the results of that can be seen in some of the announcements that the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is making. Together with Spain, France and Portugal, Ireland asked the Commission to develop an EU macro-regional strategy for the Atlantic by June of next year with the aim of addressing common challenges in the Atlantic region such as connectivity and economic growth. There is huge potential here. It is something that I have worked on with my colleagues, particularly those in the Spanish Government. We live at a time of significant challenge but we should not forget our strength - our European Union. There will always be setbacks and there will always be things that we do not succeed on, but the EU remains the single greatest peace project in history and a source of economic prosperity to Irish people and European citizens. Ireland has a seat at the Council table and in the Parliament. In looking ahead to our EU Presidency this year, we will continue to use that seat in the interests of Ireland and Irish people. It has been shown over many decades that Ireland working constructively in the European Union, protecting our vital national interests, is the way to economic success and progress in Ireland. I have no doubt that the agendas of future meetings of the European Council will be substantial and of huge importance this year. I look forward to continuing engagement with Deputies in the months ahead.
Sentiment score: 0.10