Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to that of Deputy Howlin. We would like a statement about dealing with the worries relating to LGBT issues. I raised this matter when we were lucky enough to visit Georgia.

On the foreign agents or foreign influence Bill, I would like to know the ins and outs of how it came about, what the notion behind it was and, as Deputy Howlin said, where the future lies in regard to it. I do not think there will be an incredible amount of support for it. We all saw the huge issues it created in Georgia.

It was stated that the occupied territories is priority number one, while accepting the difficulties of dealing with a much bigger neighbour. We understand this can create huge difficulties and legacy issues that go on for a considerable time. When we spoke before, Mr. Samkharadze was incredibly au faitwith the peace process in Ireland. We would like to see some sort of peaceful rectification of that situation. We visited the border areas and saw the process of borderisation, as well as the forced demographic changes and all the rest of it. It is an incredibly serious situation. At that time, Mr. Samkharadze was not particularly happy with the decision made by the Commission. He feared how this would progress and how the Ukrainian crisis would go and whether the Western world would maintain solidarity. It has done so to a large degree, probably better than we would have expected, and this is how it should be. What is Mr. Samkharadze view on that?

Like it or not, the European Commission has given Georgia a roadmap. From our interactions, it is apparent considerable action has been taken. There are big issues with regard to polarisation and deoligarchisation, which I did not pronounce correctly - I am not sure anyone can actually do so. It is about where the delegation sees that journey progressing, whether there are any difficulties anticipated and whether we can help in that regard. Mr. Samkharadze spoke about what Georgia can bring to the table, notwithstanding the difficulties faced by Georgia being in very close proximity to Russia. He mentioned supply chains in terms of Azerbaijan and how Georgia could play a huge part in the European energy map - for want of a better term. Will he go into more detail in that regard? It will probably take about 14 hours to do so, but I ask that he say whatever he can within the time allowed.