Mary Lou McDonald
Question:9. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Europe will next meet. [54591/22]
View answerWednesday, 23 November 2022
Questions (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:10. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Europe last met. [54849/22]
View answer
Paul Murphy
Question:11. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Europe last met. [54852/22]
View answer
Ivana Bacik
Question:12. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Europe last met. [57735/22]
View answer
Mick Barry
Question:13. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Europe last met. [57931/22]
View answerOral answers (9 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 to 13, 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 formal meetings of the European Council. It last met on 13 October, ahead of the meeting of the European Council in Brussels on 20 and 21 October. As I previously reported to the House, that meeting considered a number of pressing issues facing the European Union, including Russia's illegal war on Ukraine and our collective response to it; wider impacts of the war, including on food security, price and supply challenges related to energy and how best to advance our collective response to them; economic challenges; and a number of international issues, including COP27 and the upcoming European Union-Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, summit.
The next meeting of the European Council will take place in Brussels on 15 and 16 December. I expect the agenda for the December meeting will continue the work on the important issues we addressed in October. Those include developments in the war in Ukraine; energy, including proposals we asked the European Commission to develop at our meeting in October; and the economy. I expect that we will also address a number of international issues, including the European Union's relationship with countries in the Union's southern neighbourhood.
An EU-ASEAN summit, bringing together European Union leaders with our counterparts from ten countries in south-east Asia, will take place on 14 December, ahead of the meeting of the European Council. This will mark the 45th anniversary of the partnership dialogue between the two regions and two of the world's most advanced regional integration initiatives.
A meeting of the Euro Summit is also expected to take place following the meeting of the European Council. It will consider economic prospects for the period ahead. It is envisaged that the Cabinet committee on Europe will meet in advance of that meeting to consider issues on the agenda.
We have seen an escalation in Vladimir Putin's war on civilians in Ukraine. President Zelenskyy has spoken about cold as a weapon of mass destruction. We have seen the recent targeting of energy production and the madness of the attacks on Zaporizhzhia. We all see that this is happening because Russia cannot win in the field, so it is attempting to win in other ways now. This means there will be significant issues for Ukrainians due to the cold and lack of power. We also know we have an energy crisis across the board. That is another weapon that Vladimir Putin has. Both domestically and in the European Union, we have to get our act together to ensure we can mitigate issues as much as possible. This is also a matter of ensuring there is no economic contagion across the western world. This is a win that we do not need to give to Vladimir Putin. Beyond that, we have to deal with the refugee crisis with our European partners. We have to make sure that we have planning in place in this State so that we do not see a repeat of some difficulties that we had in the last while.
While I am talking about the energy crisis, I will repeat what was said about the need for mitigations in the form of communal or district heating systems. I have looked at an amendment relating to the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, as a possible solution, but I am not particularly worried about what the solution is once there is a solution for people such as the residents of Carlinn Hall, who are paying huge costs.
Has the Taoiseach had time to consider the judgment in the case about the EU–Canada Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, CETA, brought by Deputy Costello? CETA has many implications for how we respond to the energy crisis, for example. I hope that a future Government in Ireland will decide to nationalise the Corrib gas field, which is currently entirely Canadian-owned. If we have signed up to the investor court system as part of CETA, at that moment, Canadians would be able to take the Irish State to a CETA tribunal, which is a private tribunal that is separate to the regular court system. If the Canadians won their case, in which they would presumably allege direct expropriation in contradiction of CETA, the Irish courts would be bound to enforce the tribunal's judgment. They would have no choice in the matter. There would be a situation where a democratically elected Irish Government would decide on a certain policy in response to the energy and climate crisis which would be overturned by a private tribunal which is only accessible to corporations. I will quote a couple of the judgments. Mr. Justice Charleton stated:
CETA sets up a supra-legislative body through the Joint Committee with unlimited powers of interpretation of a vague set of principles within the treaty. The Joint Committee makes laws. These override the exclusive law-making powers of the Oireachtas. That process is in no way democratic.
Ms Justice Dunne stated:
Of particular significance is the “almost automatic” enforceability of CETA awards... To my mind, that is why it is necessary to have CETA ratified by the People, given that it cuts down the jurisdiction of the courts and involves the creation of a parallel jurisdiction whose awards are enforceable in this jurisdiction.
Does the Taoiseach agree?
Friday is the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. I want to express solidarity with all who suffer violence because of their gender or sexual orientation. In particular, I express solidarity with the women of Iran and all participating in the uprising against the regime that murdered Mahsa Amini. I also want to express solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado after the nightclub killings last weekend. I salute all who are fighting back against gender-based violence. I wish the organisers of the protest on Friday, ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement, the best of luck and success with those protests.
If society is to promote consent and combat misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, we need to take many steps, not least of which is the separation of church and State, including in the sphere of education. An improved sex education curriculum will only go so far when the church continues to run schools that are funded by the taxpayer. What actions does the Taoiseach intend to take on this front?
Deputy Ó Murchú raised the shocking intensification of the war by Putin against the people of Ukraine. It is a brutal, savage attack on civilians and on a collective people. I was glad to hear this morning that Tony Connelly from RTÉ is in Kyiv to report live to us. It is important that broadcasting services can tell the world about the naked aggression of Russia and its efforts to freeze people out of their homes, villages, towns and cities. It is an extraordinary act of warfare to apply such terror to people, with a clear objective of trying to subjugate and suppress their desire to belong to the European Union, to a democracy and to their country.
It is a shocking development on the Continent of Europe that such violence and wilful murder of people is taking place at the level it is. Deputy Ó Murchú is correct that Russia has weaponised energy, food and migration. That has created huge challenges for the EU.
I think the Deputy used the phrase, "needs to get its act together on the energy front", in respect of the EU but it has done quite well. There are 27 member states and each has different energy mixes and backgrounds in terms where their energy comes from. There is a range from the Iberian Peninsula to Hungary to Ireland. We get most of our gas from the UK and Norway. We get the bulk of our gas from the UK and that is stable from a security-of-supply perspective. Gas stocks have reached the targets the Commission set across the EU. That was a good day's work and has stabilised pricing. Europe is now looking at further mechanisms to avoid the speculator being enabled to create price hikes. I acknowledge we are stabilising prices at a very high level. I think it is 300-odd pence a therm compared with 55 or 60 pence a therm before the crisis. It was 600 pence a therm in August, so prices have come down since then. One of the problems is many of the companies forward hedged and we are still looking at a price of 300-odd pence a therm into March 2023. There will not, therefore, be an immediate reduction in price, but the stabilisation of pricing is important. There is much work going on at Commission level to try to decouple gas from the cost of electricity and to create new systems, which will help the EU situation. Our situation is a bit different insofar as we have the relationship with the UK in respect of the importation of gas.
I take the Deputy's point and I replied earlier to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan on mitigation for those on community heating schemes.
Ireland has responded to a remarkable degree on the refugee crisis. More than 60,000 Ukrainians have come to Ireland and the numbers coming in separately from international protection have more than doubled when compared with last year. These were numbers simply not envisaged towards the end of last year and before the war.
Deputy Paul Murphy raised the judgments on CETA. I will examine those in detail. Quite a number of judges made their opinions known. I am sure the Deputy will agree CETA has been beneficial to many companies in Ireland and to many jobs. It has been in operation since 2017. Approximately 400 companies that are client companies of Enterprise Ireland are involved in exporting and are in the market in Canada. A lot of our produce is exported to Canada. It is a country we have good relationships with in the context of the rules-based international order. All that needs to be said because it rarely gets said by those who take an opposing view on CETA.
The Deputy raised the issue of nationalisation of the Corrib field and what could happen. We must act in good faith with companies that invest in Ireland. The Deputy's approach would destroy foreign direct investment in Ireland, if a future Government just willfully nationalised someone who decided to invest in Ireland. Governments here do not have the wherewithal to speculate on fossil fuels, nor will we have it in the future. Where companies invest here they need to have that security that we have an international rules-based system, that there are no sudden shocks and that it is not the case you can invest in Ireland and then suddenly the Government takes a turn and says it is going to nationalise everything you have. That would lead to a banana republic very quickly. It would undermine foreign direct investment. Maybe that is something the Deputy wants because maybe he does not agree with multinationals coming into Ireland.
Maybe the Taoiseach does not agree with democracy and the right to an elected left Government.
The Deputy is entitled to that position but I need to point out the consequence of what he is suggesting would be quite damaging to jobs in Ireland. Many workers would lose their jobs because many people would not invest in such a climate or such an environment. I am making a fair point because it would create a degree of uncertainty.
Could the Taoiseach address the case, if he does not mind?
As I have said, the advice we have received so far is it can be resolved through legislation. Decisions have been taken at European court level on dilution of the investor courts and so on, but I will read the judgments. We will give this assessment and examine that.
Deputy Barry raised the issue of the elimination of violence against women and I agree with his remarks in their entirety. I empathise with the LGBTI community in Colorado. What is happening in the US in respect of its gun laws is truly appalling. The degree to which people have access to high-powered weapons and the polarisation of opinion in America that allows such murderous terror attacks to happen is absolutely appalling.
In respect of church and State here, we have developed a pluralistic system in education provision. Parental choice is important, so plebiscites are held in some communities about the type of school they want and parents vote. We provide for Educate Together schools, which are growing significantly, denominational schools, non-denominational schools and Gaelscoileanna. That is what parents are looking for.