Seán Haughey
Question:22. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the meeting of the European Political Community in Moldova on 1 June 2023. [27438/23]
View answerWednesday, 21 June 2023
Questions (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:23. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the recent meeting of the European Political Community, held in Moldova. [28323/23]
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Bernard Durkan
Question:24. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meetings in Moldova and any issues arising therefrom. [28327/23]
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Ruairí Ó Murchú
Question:25. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the meeting of the European Political Community on 1 June 2023. [29524/23]
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Alan Dillon
Question:26. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the meeting of the European Political Community in Moldova on 1 June 2023. [29569/23]
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Gary Gannon
Question:27. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the meeting of the European Political Community on 1 June 2023. [29339/23]
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Peadar Tóibín
Question:28. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the meeting of the European Political Community on 1 June 2023. [29399/23]
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Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:29. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the meeting of the European Political Community on 1 June 2023. [29545/23]
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Bríd Smith
Question:30. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the meeting of the European Political Community on 1 June 2023. [29548/23]
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Paul Murphy
Question:31. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the meeting of the European Political Community on 1 June 2023. [29551/23]
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Mick Barry
Question:32. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach to report on his attendance at the meeting of the European Political Community on 1 June 2023. [29625/23]
View answerBernard Durkan
Question:33. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Taoiseach to report any recent discussions he has had with the Ukrainian President or Ukrainian authorities, directly or at European level. [29828/23]
View answerBernard Durkan
Question:34. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Taoiseach to report on any recent discussions he has had with the British Prime Minister, directly or at European level. [29827/23]
View answerOral answers (10 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 to 34, inclusive, together.
I attended the meeting of the European Political Community, EPC, in Chiinu, Moldova on 31 May and 1 June. The EPC is an informal forum which brings together leaders from across the continent of Europe to discuss issues of shared concern. It first met in Prague last October and will meet again in October of this year in Granada, Spain, during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Nearly 50 leaders participated, including from 27 EU member states, EU candidate countries in the western Balkans and most of our eastern European neighbours, including the President of Ukraine, but excluding Belarus; as well as our own closer neighbours such as Iceland, Norway and the United Kingdom. The presidents of the European Commission, European Parliament and the European Council also participated. The broad and open EPC format provides a valuable opportunity to hear the perspectives of the wider European family and to explore synergies on pressing issues such as energy, connectivity and security.
The summit was the largest event of its nature ever held in Moldova. I commend the Moldovan Government on its excellent organisation. The decision to hold the summit in Chiinu was in part to send a signal to Moscow of the strength and breadth of solidarity with Moldova in the face of Russia’s relentless bullying tactics aimed at undermining its democracy and sovereignty and to show respect to Moldova for the support it has offered its neighbour, Ukraine.
During the summit, I participated in a round table on energy and connectivity co-chaired by the prime ministers of Belgium and Norway. We have all learned in the past year that the only way to guarantee price stability and security of supply will be to accelerate the transition to green and renewable sources of energy, and that in doing so regional and continental co-operation is essential.
I had a bilateral meeting with the President of Montenegro. I congratulated him on his election as President and reaffirmed Ireland’s strong endorsement of Montenegro’s EU ambition.
On the margins of the summit, I met with the Prime Minister of Moldova, the President of Kosovo and other leaders in attendance, including Prime Minister Sunak.
It is significant that the second meeting of the EPC took place in Moldova, a small state of 2.6 million people which is a pro-European democracy and is under constant threat from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. That brings me to the question of EU enlargement generally. Moldova and Ukraine have candidate status and hopefully Georgia will have that status soon. In the western Balkans, countries are waiting to join. Russia is engaging in ongoing attempts to destabilise these countries and is eyeing up Transnistria.
What is Ireland’s approach to these applications? Obviously they have to meet the criteria for membership but should we give an increased weighting to the prevailing geopolitical situation in these regions and the malign influence of Russia when considering these applications? Is there a danger they may give up on Europe if their applications are delayed further? This seems to be the view of President Macron.
I ask about energy security. As we head into winter 2023, were there discussions on gas storage capacity? This was a huge issue in the run-in to last winter and had a huge impact on prices. Notwithstanding what the Taoiseach said about the move to renewables, this winter gas will be important for us. I ask also about energy market reform to decouple the price of gas from the price of electricity.
The location was very impressive, as was the attendance, at a time in European development that will be regarded as crucial when European history comes to be written.
To what extent were representatives of traditionally neutral countries in attendance? Was there any discussion of neutrality, the ability of traditionally neutral countries to defend themselves, whether they will receive assistance from their neighbours and whether they will have to stand alone? Was cognisance taken of neutral countries that were overrun recently, such as Ukraine, and the host of countries overrun in the Second World War that were depending on neutrality to defend themselves, which did not happen? What action is likely to be taken in view of that?
We live in a world of threats, including those associated with hybrid warfare, cybersecurity, weaponised social media and disinformation. In this regard, we must also consider the positives and dangers of artificial intelligence. At the conference, the Taoiseach spoke about an EU- or NATO-led mission that he would welcome to strengthen the protection of undersea cables. Are there any proposals on this at this stage? We need co-operation and capacity but cannot let these sorts of conversations be a stalking horse or trojan horse to move us away from where the Irish people are on non-alignment and military neutrality.
I welcome the pupils and teachers from Dooagh National School, Achill Island, who left at 6 a.m. this morning to be here. I hope they enjoy their visit to Dáil Éireann.
Following the Taoiseach's attendance at the EU leaders' meeting in Moldova, I would like to raise two key areas of great importance to the people of Ireland, the first being the discussion of high energy prices and security of supply, which is of the utmost importance. The Taoiseach emphasised the need for a transition to green, renewable sources to achieve greater security and price stability and reduce emissions. Could he provide us with more details on specific measures our Government is taking to accelerate this transition?
Moving beyond the energy sector, I would like the Taoiseach to address the critical issues discussed at the EU meeting on cybersecurity and the protection of critical infrastructure, which are of pressing concern. Could he elaborate on how we are collaborating with our EU partners to develop comprehensive strategies and frameworks to address these challenges?
We have highlighted over recent days and weeks our fear that the Government's consultative forum is stacked with pro-NATO voices, NATO employees, generals, brigadiers, people involved with the military-industrial complex and those generally in favour of militarisation. The Taoiseach said – yesterday, I believe – that he would consider the possibility of rebalancing the forum. Has he done so? At the moment, it is just a sham and reflects an incredibly pro-NATO, pro-militarisation basis.
The political community meeting reflects the same sort of bias although it concerns itself, rightly, with the criminal behaviour of Vladimir Putin. Interestingly, we had five Russian anti-Putin, anti-war activists in Leinster House yesterday. Every single Deputy and Senator was notified but not a single representative of the Government bothered to turn up. People are actually fighting Putin. Did those at the political community meeting discuss what the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine is here to discuss today, which is what she describes as the shocking double standards in the treatment of Israel for its crimes against the Palestinians and the treatment of Putin for his crimes against Ukraine? We have referred to this many times.
I want to raise with the Taoiseach some issues that flow from the briefing we held yesterday with a group of Russians known as Free Russians Ireland. These are people who are steadfast in their opposition to the authoritarian Putin regime, who are completely opposed to Putin's invasion of Ukraine and who are calling for peace and for Ireland to facilitate peace talks. One of the things they spoke about was the repression of anti-war activists in Russia. Approximately 20,000 people have been arrested. Many of them, including friends of those in Free Russians Ireland, were arrested just for holding up blank pieces of paper. The group comprises Russian citizens living in Ireland now. Many of them fear they will be forced to go back to Russia, to a regime they are publicly on record as opposing through speaking in this Parliament. Will the Government accept that fleeing conscription in Russia should be a ground for the granting of asylum to people like those in the group?
The European Political Community strongly supports the increased militarisation of the Continent. Last year, global arms expenditure hit its highest-ever level. It would seem the Government is encouraging Irish companies to jump aboard this arms expenditure trade. The former Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney, said last year that: "even though the perception is that Ireland does not have a defence industry, actually, in terms of the contribution that many Irish companies make in regard to dual-use goods, we have extraordinary capacity in this country".
The Galway session of the forum that starts in Cork tomorrow will involve an entire session on Irish research on innovation in security and defence. That can be dressed up however you please but this is a forum session on Ireland tapping into the global arms race. What say you?
I thank the Deputies again for their questions. I join Deputy Dillon in welcoming everyone who has come all the way from Achill. Tá fáilte romhaibh go léir chuig an Dáil.
I wish to answer Deputy Dillon's questions on security of supply and price stability. We all agree and acknowledge that the best thing we can do to bring about price stability when it comes to energy and improving security of supply is shift to renewables, which cannot happen quickly enough for reasons of economics, security and climate. The main thing we compared notes on at the meeting in Moldova was the need for us to co-operate and share information because every country is now trying to do the same thing, that is, to build up infrastructure and build out renewables. There are limitations regarding the availability of metals, materials and qualified staff. If we do not work together and co-ordinate, all we will do is push up the price of everything and that is why it is important that we co-operate.
On undersea cables, I have not seen any particular proposal for an EU-PESCO programme or a NATO-led one, but that would be examined by the Tánaiste in the first instance. There are many undersea cables around Ireland, including off the coast of Mayo. They are very important for our communications, in particular. We want to ensure they are protected from anyone who might interfere with them.
We expect the retail price of gas and electricity to fall. Wholesale prices have fallen but, as Deputies will know, wholesale prices went up tenfold and retail prices did not. Therefore, there will be a time lag before prices come down.
Deputy Durkan asked about traditionally neutral states who had representatives present. Pretty much every country in Europe had someone present, with the exception of Russia, Belarus and Turkey. That is the difference between the format and the EU. I suppose you could divide the countries into two categories: those which, for very obvious reasons, want to join NATO, which are mainly countries not too far from Russia; and countries that are not very near Russia and do not feel the need to join NATO, including Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, San Marino, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Vatican. However, it was not really a topic of discussion in Moldova.
I want to be associated with Deputy Haughey's remarks on Moldova. Ireland favours further enlargement into the western Balkans. We are very proud that the last major enlargement happened during the Irish Presidency, under a Fianna Fáil Government. We are very proud that Ireland held the Presidency of the EU when the enlargement into central and eastern Europe happened. We cannot lower our standards for membership, and all criteria for membership have to be met, but I do agree that if we string this out and make countries in the western Balkans, in particular, wait too long, all we will do is help anti-European forces in those countries and malign state actors. We have to say to people in the western Balkans that if they implement the reforms necessary, their pathway to EU membership will be clear. I am glad that is the view of President Macron. It has been our view for a very long time. We think enlargement has been too slow.
Israel–Palestine was not a topic of discussion in Chiinu. We will, of course, consider any application for asylum on its merits. All applications are considered individually. My understanding is that fleeing conscription is taken into account in asylum applications but is not in itself an automatic guarantee that refugee status will be granted.
Is féidir teacht ar Cheisteanna Scríofa ar www.oireachtas.ie.
Written Answers are published on the Oireachtas website.
Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 2.01 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 3.02 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 2.01 p.m. and resumed at 3.02 p.m.