Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Many questions were asked. I have concerns about Bahrain, as I outlined earlier. The truth is there are many things happening in many parts of the world and we cannot focus on all of them at the same time. I gave members a sense of some of the priority areas, countries and challenges we have been trying to deal with at the Foreign Affairs Council at EU level.

On the matter of Iran and the nuclear deal, as I and other EU figures have said many times, we were very disappointed by the decision of the United States to withdraw from that deal. My EU colleagues and I discussed Iran and the joint comprehensive plan of action at the Council meeting in November and again earlier this week. We reiterated our united and continued support for the full implementation of the agreement, including the creation of a special purpose vehicle that can effectively allow for investment and money flows back and forth in the context of the United States sanctions being implemented, which is not easy.

It is not easy because the US financial system is the core of much of global commerce.

I am glad the Deputy raised the global compact because there is a great deal of scaremongering taking place in that regard. I have had people approach me in the street to raise it, which is unusual in Ireland where we have generally avoided what I regard as the politics of migration. That is partly because of where we are geographically but also because we do not tend to have a hard left and a hard right in Irish politics on a large scale from a policy perspective. Ireland supports the global compact for migration which was adopted at the UN conference in Morocco in the last few days and we look forward to joining other signatories to ensure migration is safer, more orderly and better managed. It is regrettable that some countries have indicated that they will not join the compact but we hope they will reconsider in time. The lessons we learned in the European Union during the 2015 migration crisis should remind us of the need to address migration in a co-operative and comprehensive manner. The global compact is non-binding and in no way infringes on states' sovereignty. Suggestions that it might lead to a surge in migration are absolutely unfounded. Migration is a global challenge whether we like it or not and we need collective solutions based on multilateral agreements and structures, primarily through the UN and EU.