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Cabinet Committees

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 February 2022

Wednesday, 23 February 2022

Questions (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

5. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [6125/22]

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Alan Kelly

Question:

6. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [7924/22]

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Seán Haughey

Question:

7. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [9364/22]

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Dara Calleary

Question:

8. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [9369/22]

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Brendan Smith

Question:

9. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [9365/22]

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Neale Richmond

Question:

10. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will meet next. [9451/22]

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Ruairí Ó Murchú

Question:

11. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [9471/22]

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Mick Barry

Question:

12. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [9692/22]

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Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

13. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [9700/22]

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Paul Murphy

Question:

14. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [9709/22]

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Rose Conway-Walsh

Question:

15. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Europe will next meet. [10080/22]

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Oral answers (26 contributions)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 15, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on Europe oversees implementation of programme for Government commitments on the European Union and related issues. It generally meets in advance of a meeting of the European Council. The Cabinet committee discusses the agenda for European Council meetings, as well as other programme for Government priorities in respect of the European Union. It last met ahead of the October European Council and is scheduled to meet next on 7 March 2022.

While I appreciate that, correctly, so much of the Taoiseach's attention will be on happenings in Ukraine and the escalating situation there I want to draw his attention once again to the need to end trade with illegal settlements in Palestine. He knows that Trócaire is just one of many NGOs and human rights groups supporting a European citizens' initiative that makes precisely this call. It is accepted by the Government and the European Union that Israeli settlements in Palestine are illegal under international law. Like so many others, Trócaire has campaigned for the occupied territories Bill in Ireland. The Government should support this legislation. We should move from the front on this. Will the Taoiseach reconsider his opposition to the legislation? Jim Crow laws in the United States were wrong. South Africa's system of apartheid was wrong. Israeli apartheid against Palestinians is wrong. I am unsure as to why the Government finds it so difficult and falters on this matter.

I want to ask the Taoiseach about his attendance last week at the European Union-African Union summit and the need to develop a strategic partnership between Europe and Africa. As the Taoiseach knows, Africa faces many challenges including Covid-19. Only 11% of Africans are fully vaccinated at this time. There are also issues with hunger, undernourishment, conflict, political violence, climate change and poor governance. There are associated issues that need to be addressed, such as the education of women, healthcare, family planning and food production. No doubt all of these were discussed at the summit. In this regard it is important that we recommit ourselves to implementing the UN sustainable goals. There are, of course, moral obligations to tackle these humanitarian concerns.

It is also in the interests of the EU and the African Union to promote sustainable investment and economic growth in Africa, as well as stable societies. The sustainable development of agriculture and food is of particular interest to Ireland. As the Taoiseach is aware, we have established the Ireland-Africa rural development committee. Was the request by the African Union for more legal routes to the EU from Africa considered, along with the need to implement the EU's pact on migration and asylum?

I welcome that the committee is due to meet on 7 March. At that meeting, does the Taoiseach expect a full discussion on contingency planning and an impact assessment on Ireland due to the potential for the escalation of conflict on the border of Ukraine?

The European Council is not due to meet again until after the 24 or 25 March. Is there an appetite for, or does the Taoiseach believe there is a need for, an emergency meeting of the European Council and therefore an earlier emergency meeting of the Cabinet subcommittee?

Given the circumstances at this time and the incredible dangers for the people in Ukraine, the State, through the embassy, has told Irish people in Ukraine to leave. I have been contacted by a constituent of mine who has said there are still major difficulties with visas for his family members who are non-Irish. That is something we need to move on. I believe the British Government and others have moved on it. It can be incredibly difficult to go through a third EU country. I have spoken to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, and I have spoken to Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. We need to deal with this as soon as possible given the circumstances that people find themselves in.

In many European countries, front-line workers have expressed their opposition and concerns with regard to the rapid dismantling of Covid-19 restrictions, including the mandatory wearing of masks. While it is true the Irish Government has been slightly slower to move in this direction, concerns are being expressed here by workers such as teachers, special needs assistants, SNAs, public transport workers, retail workers and others, with particular reference to the change in masking policy for their workplaces. I believe they have grounds for some concerns. For example, 596 children aged 14 or under were hospitalised in Ireland with Covid between 22 December and 17 February. Several times before, most notably in the summer of 2020 and at Christmas 2020, the Taoiseach's Government made serious errors in removing restrictions too quickly. To be clear, it is clearly proportionate at this stage to remove many restrictions. I would like the Taoiseach, however, to comment on the concerns raised by these front-line workers on the masking issues in their own workplaces.

On Leaders' Questions earlier, I asked the Taoiseach to consider imposing rent controls as is being done in France. The problem of rising and unaffordable rents is worse in Ireland than pretty much anywhere else in Europe, but it is happening everywhere. The Taoiseach gave me what was, no doubt, his scriptwriter's pat answer to fob this off, that it did not really work in Berlin.

It was not scripted.

It was verbal. A number of people told me that yesterday.

Berlin imposed a totally pathetic form of rent control, which only controlled rents for apartments or houses built before 2014. Anything built after 2014 they can charge what they like. So what happened? Rents for apartments and houses built before 2014 were stabilised and everything else went through the roof. I asked the Taoiseach to look at what they have done in France, which is working. They did it in July 2019, in Lille and Paris, where they set rents at affordable levels. These were reference rents and you cannot put rents above these certain levels that are considered affordable. Since then, 20 other French cities have applied to the minister to impose the same form of rent controls because they are working. Why will the Taoiseach not to do that?

What is happening in Ukraine and eastern Europe is, in fact, a clash between two imperialist powers with Russia on the one side and the US-led military alliance of NATO on the other. Both sides use the language of concern, on the one hand by Putin, who is an authoritarian thug, for the people in the Donbas, and on the other hand by NATO, which says it is concerned for the right of self-determination for Ukraine. In reality, neither is concerned about those who would be the victims of warmongering. They are both seeking to extend their zones of geostrategic interest.

We are very clear there needs to be an anti-war movement built, with the crucial demand there being Putin's troops out of Ukraine. Does the Taoiseach not agree that NATO forces should also leave eastern Europe? The active NATO battle groups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland should be removed. The missile bases in Romania and Poland should be removed. The annual and very significant military exercises by NATO, the so-called DEFENDER-Europe, which happened on Russia's border with 30,000 troops, should also be stopped. They are clearly aimed at encircling Russia.

Over the weekend, a leaked European Commission report said that gas prices will remain high and volatile until at least 2023. Shockingly, the leaked draft report makes no mention of the decoupling of electricity prices from gas prices. When the price of gas goes up, households pay more for wind-generated electricity too. This is because the pricing system is essentially an auction where the cost of gas generated sets the price. The EU and successive governments here have pushed this market pricing system for years. Now that this is failing to deliver fair prices, the Government and a number of other countries have remained ideologically wedded to this approach. I raised this matter with the Taoiseach last November, and I am asking him again to look at it. We could have gas supply disruption far into the future, but families cannot continue to pay the price for stubborn, short-sighted policymakers. I am really asking the Taoiseach to look into this. I believe there is something we can do here.

Deputy McDonald's spoke about the trade with the illegal settlements, and she also raised the Ukraine issue. Ukraine will be the dominant feature here.

With regard to the illegal settlements and the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill, legal advice has been issued around the competency of the European Union to govern trade policy of the EU and third countries. That is the big problem with the legal validity of the Bill, whether it passes the legal test or the legal threshold, which is the bigger issue. The second issue is that we all must watch the impact of it. I am not clear that any real study of the socioeconomic impact on Palestinians has taken place in respect of the Bill. I remember posing that question at times to the advocates and I did not really get a clear substantive reply as to what the impact would be on Palestinian workers. The situation is complex. The illegal settlements are unacceptable and we have been very clear as a Government on that, and we are one of the strongest Governments across the EU in respect of what should happen in Palestine.

Deputy Haughey raised the EU-African Union two-day summit, which was a very worthwhile summit. There were a number of breakout sessions. I was at the security and peace session. I also chaired the session on agricultural sustainable development and food systems. What was striking from the presentation on security and peace was that the overwhelming concern was terrorism and imported terrorism into Africa, which is really destabilising. Boko Haram, the Wagner Group and various mercenaries coming into Africa are causing disputes and conflicts over natural resources. It is a huge threat. If there was one takeaway from the summit, it was the concern among African leaders about the growth in the Sahel and other areas of terrorism, including the murdering of innocent schoolchildren and communities for all sorts of false narratives around succession, claiming autonomy for part of a country, or acting as a puppet for somebody else to take power. There have been attempted coups d'état and so forth.

I took the opportunity when I chaired the session with the Greek Prime Minister and the President of Kenya about the importance of agriculture and food, and we discussed how Ireland developed and evolved from being just commodities-based exports to a much more integrated and sophisticated supply chain food system. There is a great deal Ireland can do for Africa in sharing knowledge, expertise and ideas around agriculture and food production.

On asylum, the issue of legal pathways was, of course, an active issue that was discussed.

It was an ongoing discussion in my meeting with the Chancellor yesterday. It is an issue that is gaining ground in terms of how Europe deals with migration. There is a strong move towards developing more legal channels, along with other initiatives.

On vaccines, good progress was made at the conclusions. The leader of South Africa and the President of the Commission agreed to instruct both teams at the WTO to get a resolution to this as quickly as we can. Without question, the European Union is the biggest donor of vaccines across the world, and certainly to Africa, but the levels are too low. What was heartening is the degree to which capacity building in terms of manufacturing within Africa is now growing thanks to the European Union initiative. We will be providing well over €1.5 billion to give capacity to South Africa, Senegal and others to have their own plants. That means technology transfers. It is generally acknowledged that a TRIPS waiver alone will not produce jabs for arms. What is needed is know-how, capacity and technology transfers in personnel who can produce the drugs in situ locally. That is ultimately the way to go. In addition, Europe has committed enormous numbers of vaccines to the middle of this year to dramatically increase the take-up, which is an issue in itself, and to assist in the logistics of the roll-out of the vaccine.

On Ukraine, I have to take issue with Deputy Murphy. His anti-Americanism always trumps a rational assessment of a situation. This is not a clash of two alliances at all. Rather, this is the aggression of Russia. Unfortunately, it has to be called out. It is wrong. NATO has no interest in war.

Why did it extend-----

Deputy Murphy said it should pull back troops and deployment in eastern Europe. I refer the Deputy to an article written in the Financial Times by the Prime Minister of Estonia. If the Deputy reads that article he will understand why if he lived in Estonia, Poland, Latvia or Lithuania he would never want to be alone again. That is the phrase the Prime Minister used. Her grandparents were deported to Siberia. First they had the Nazis and then they had the Russians. When the Russians came in after the Second World War they were deported to Siberia. She said they will never be alone again because being alone again means the kind of thing that is happening in Ukraine right now.

We need to move on to Question No. 16.

The security issues can be resolved and people want to resolve them. The European Union wants to resolve the security concerns that Russia may have. They can easily be resolved and we discussed that yesterday with the Chancellor. If those issues can be dealt with, there is no need for this incredible militarisation that NATO has had no hand, act, or part in.

Time is up. We need to move to Question No. 16.

What about the visa issue?

I am sorry. We do not have time.

I will follow that up with the Minister. I do not accept the analysis of Deputy Conway-Walsh. We may come back to that another time.

I have to have due respect for the Ceann Comhairle.

It is the rules of the House.

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