Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted that the witnesses have had the opportunity to visit Ireland and to build on relations between our countries. We had the opportunity to visit Georgia last year, and I would like to put on the record of the House the tremendous work Mr. Zurabashvilli and his colleagues are doing in the embassy in Dublin on behalf of his country. He is one of the hardest working ambassadors I have encountered. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, on our trip to Georgia, nominated me as chairperson-convenor of the Georgia-Ireland parliamentary friendship group, which was launched yesterday, in conjunction with the Chairman and the Ceann Comhairle, who is meeting the delegation shortly. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan said that the opening of the embassy in Tbilisi is probably down the list of priorities, based on our recent questioning of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, but we will continue to push that issue, and I am sure our colleagues will keep raising it in parliamentary questions to the Minister. I certainly will continue to raise the issue. One of the top priorities for Georgia is full membership of the EU, and I was delighted to be able to arrange a meeting recently with the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Phil Hogan, and Mr. Zurabashvilli. We hope that the Commissioner will make a trip to Georgia in the not-too-distant future to see for himself the reform of the agricultural sector that has taken place there and to discuss how the EU can further support that.

Our briefing note outlines that in 2014, €410 million was made available by the EU to support reforms in key areas such as public administration, agriculture and rural development and justice. Perhaps the witnesses could outline the reform that has taken place. Are there still stumbling blocks to Georgia's entry into the EU or has it met the full criteria for membership? Is it a matter of hoping that it will be invited to join or is there still work that it needs to do to meet the full entry criteria?

On NATO, I note Vice President Pence was due to visit Tbilisi shortly after the Irish delegation visited. How did the negotiations on Georgia's membership of NATO go? The witness mentioned it, and seemed to have very strong views about joining NATO, as well as the EU. What is the hold-up on joining NATO? Mr. Kapanadze and Ms Katsarava touched on it but what are the big issues in terms of the obstacles Georgia faces in joining NATO?

I hope that the witnesses have a very successful trip to Ireland and that we can work together on building the relationship between our two countries.