Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not think a third of the country is occupied, is it? South Ossetia and Abkhazia are the two areas. Notwithstanding that, there is a sense that more reforms are needed within Georgia. We want Georgia to be a candidate country but I just have to call it as it is at times and give the EU position on the matter.

On sanctions generally, we target the elites. We tend to run the sanctions in a way that is targeting the oligarchs and the banks, etc., and trying to protect people as much as we can.

On the Palestinian-Israeli situation, I do not see much hope at the moment of any comprehensive peace process. In my view, everything Israel is doing runs counter to the two-state solution. It is difficult to comprehend how ultimately it can be in the best security interests of Israel to have these ongoing violent tensions, to put it mildly, between itself and people within the West Bank and Gaza. The immediate solution for me seems to be good, harmonious relationships to allow the development of a strong Palestinian authority and a Palestinian state. We support a two-state solution but everything happening at the moment runs counter to a two-state solution. That is the reality. We are working with like-minded countries on this issue to try to move Europe. However, Europe is divided. There is no point in saying that it is not. There are different perspectives across the European Union on the issue.

I appreciate the Senators' comments in respect of the Windsor agreement. Senator Wilson made the point about people being entitled to time. Many legitimate issues were raised regarding the operation of the protocol. It needs to be said that parties across the political spectrum raised legitimate questions. I believe they have been comprehensively responded to. It is a very comprehensive agreement with a lot of detail in it. All parties will want to examine the detail of it, but it is a welcome common agreement. I have been consistent in my view that in parallel with this, the institutions should be restored.

On the Nord Stream attack, the investigations by Danish and Swedish authorities into the four leaks of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines are still ongoing, with co-operation from Germany. Early indications from both investigations suggest the damage to pipelines was deliberate, resulting from undersea detonations. Up to now, there has been no attribution to any actors. We support the efforts made to get to the bottom of this.

Regarding Deputy Clarke's point on digital security, there is recognition across the European Union, including in Ireland, that foreign information manipulation and interference, often labelled as disinformation, is a growing political and security challenge. We are back to what Senator Craughwell said earlier about different threats. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by highly sophisticated targeted disinformation campaigns. There was a presentation by Google at the Munich conference which was fascinating because it showed the increase in cyberattacks coinciding with the invasion of Ukraine. Many of these were against Ukraine, but there were others against many NATO countries. This is a terrain of the future, so to speak, where we have to become more resilient. Ireland is growing its cybersecurity strength with the National Cybersecurity Centre. Our recent investigation into the health service cyberattack was commended by many other countries and was helpful to them in pursuing those who carried out the attack. The European Union and the member states are taking strong action in response to the threat. We supported the Council conclusions on foreign information manipulation and interference at the Foreign Affairs Council last July. These conclusions set out a clear roadmap to enhance the European Union's ability to defend against and mitigate the harmful effects of hybrid threats and disinformation. A hybrid toolbox was revealed by EU member states last year and work is ongoing on a new information manipulation and interference toolbox which will be completed under the Swedish Presidency. That is complementary to a number of other measures taken at EU level, including the digital service agreement, which will be implemented by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. There will also be a strengthened code of practice on disinformation and the establishment of European digital media observatories across the European Union, including the DCU Institute for Future Media Democracy and Society.

We are taking a range of additional measures domestically and we want to secure more expertise from those who have it. The only way we can really deal with this is by collaborating with other member states and like-minded states, and being alive to the reality that this is part of our daily existence right now. Munster Technological University, MTU, was attacked two weeks ago and the threat is high. We have to develop resilience in respect of this. In my capacity as chair of the Government task force on emergency planning, I know that this is an area we keep under constant review. Having business-as-usual continuity in the face of such attacks is something we continue to work on.