Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I will come in on some of that. If the EU-Israel association agreement comes up at the Foreign Affairs Council again, I am happy to talk about it. It does not come up at the meetings I sit at. The Tánaiste looks after that one. I have no doubt that I or the Tánaiste will be happy to talk about it anytime. I think the committee should be meeting other committees in parliaments to talk about it because the problem is not Ireland. The problem is not what this Government is doing on this issue. I think most people know this. The problem is that we cannot get every other country to agree on it. We managed to get a majority view last month on this issue. That is where the value would be had. Members are obliged to hold Ministers to account here, but I think there would be added value in talking to other European affairs or foreign affairs committees around the Continent, whether members visit them or do video calls with them. Even just hearing what they are saying would better inform them - and us - as to what the opinion is. That would be important. It is very important that the committee, as part of our national effort over the next year, is meeting not just at COSAC level but bilaterally with other parliaments and European affairs committees, and with business interests and trade unions across Europe as well as social interests. That is important. It is important for the President but also for the MFF and our officials. Once we publish our national plan and once the Commission publishes its proposals and the negotiations start, we will have the first meeting in July at European affairs level. We would we be happy to give a briefing on this and where things are nationally if people want it. The difficulty sometimes with the EU is that there is always a lot of speculation. You sort of have to know what is being proposed because that is what we are working off. Speculation will always be there, of course.

On accession, the Commission is right. It is not there. What happens with accession is, generally speaking, some countries block other countries from joining. I heard people say that people have the right to block countries coming in. They do, but we think the way it is currently happening is unjustified. We had a situation for a long time where Bulgaria had issues with the Republic of North Macedonia joining the European Union over various matters after the Republic of North Macedonia had sorted out other issues with Greece. We think some of these bilateral issues should not be used. However, I cannot stop someone using them either, and that is the challenge. If they say that we are not moving forward, there is not much we can do. Accession overall – not every country – is in a better place than when I was last Minister of State for European affairs. I think there is more of an impetus on it. It might be ambitious but it is quite possible that Montenegro could finish its job during our Presidency. It is possible, but not definitely going to happen. Albania will become well advanced. It is important for those countries and for general EU security for them to join. I spoke to some Icelandic representatives. They are having a debate internally as well. It would be great to start its process during our Presidency. It would be much easier from a rule of law and Single Market point of view to join. We are all in favour of it.