Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to Iran, I ask the Minister if and when we are going to reopen the embassy in that country. The Minister will have noted that an election was held there recently and the President was re-elected. He is trying to change the direction of his country. I paid an official visit to Iran when I was Ceann Comhairle and spoke with the President. It would be in our interests as well as the interests of the region for Ireland to be represented there by way of an embassy. The Irish embassy in Iran was closed some time ago and it is ridiculous that it has not been reopened when efforts are being made to bring Iran into a normal way of doing business. There are constant attempts to attack Iran even though the regime there has changed. In my meeting with the President, I asked him directly if he intended to or had already developed weapons of mass destruction. His answer, without hesitation, was "No" and he said that such weapons are contrary to the religious beliefs of the people of Iran. I am tired of listening to people constantly having a go at Iran when there are other countries in that region that are not doing as much in terms of trying to change peoples' opinion. Iran went through a very difficult period with the changeover in the 1970s but now it is time to bring that country on board.

It is essential to peacekeeping in the region. I just do not understand why we do not have an embassy there to be able to report back at first hand on what is happening. I can tell members only what I experienced. I had a one-to-one conversation for about half an hour with the President. I was there as Ceann Comhairle; I was not there poking my nose in. I got a straight answer. These people want to do business with Ireland and want to become part and parcel of the whole process in the Middle East. It is important we have someone heading up the regime in Iran who is progressive and not going backwards. Ireland, as an independent country, should have an embassy there from which we would get constant reports back through our diplomatic channels.

I was in Ukraine with a number of Speakers from European parliaments. We met the country's President. Incidentally, his two children were born in Ireland. I had not realised that. Ukraine is struggling. It is blatantly obvious that the Russians are up to their ears in causing problems in the eastern part of Ukraine. They have already walked into Crimea and annexed it, but nowhere, including Germany, raised a whimper. Imagine someone walking into this country and taking it over part and parcel. The issue of Ukraine has gone off the agenda. No one is even raising it as an issue now. The mother of the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland was living in Crimea. He could not go to visit his own mother. This is one of the day-to-day human aspects of all this. We wonder what is happening with Russia and so on. The Russians have not given up their desires to annexe parts of the world they once controlled. As an independent country within the European Union, it is important for Ireland to have its own opinion on these sorts of issues. We protect dearly our neutrality and should use it to speak out on these sorts of issues. When one visits places such as the ones I have mentioned and talks to the people involved, one realises they are left swinging. No one is talking about Crimea. I never hear a dicky bird about it. I would like the Minister to address that also.

Are serious efforts being made in the Minister's Department to set up a really important team to deal with Brexit? I feel this is drifting along. We are getting all sorts of mixed messages. Why was the representative who was here addressing the two Houses also at the Border? I am told he was looking at areas suitable for posts. What was his business going there? Our policy is to have no boundaries, and we are trying to agree this with the British. This is such an important issue for us. Ours is an island stuck out in the Atlantic and we are the ones who will suffer most owing to Britain pulling out of the European Union. This little island out in the Atlantic will have an independent Great Britain between it and the rest of Europe, so before going further down the line or before fallings out between those negotiating on behalf of the European Union and Britain, we will have to address this. We are the ones who will really suffer. It is important we be clear about this. I acknowledge our Government has been trying to make clear what we want, but what we want and what we get are matters on which we need guarantees.