Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Everyone's preamble is always that we live in a very different world with a significant level of geopolitical uncertainty and that obviously relates to war, conflict and particular shifting economic issues to put it mildly. We can all see the importance of the next number of Presidencies, particularly with regard to the dealings with the US. We have been dealing with Russia's illegal war on Ukraine and the disgraceful genocide by the Israelis in Palestine. Denmark is one of the countries that has supported a review of the EU-Israel association agreement on the basis of its human rights conditions. Most right-thinking people throughout the world would agree. We just need this to happen. I accept that there are difficulties at an EU level regarding where some states are but we must do whatever needs to be done domestically by individual states. We need to see movement on that.

The ambassador spoke about security. While we all accept that it is a very different world, Ireland has a particular view. I do not think the world will be made better by us moving away from our independent foreign policy or our stance on neutrality. We also know we have a piece of work to do whether we are talking about the protection of undersea cables, cybersecurity and so on. We need to maintain our Defence Forces to a level they have not been at over many years.

The ambassador spoke about migration. Denmark has used a number of opt-outs. Migration policy probably has changed in Denmark. Could the ambassador address that and how Denmark's Presidency will deal with that issue? On a day-to-day basis, issues are changing across Europe. We can see what is happening in Poland. All those issues affect the wider question of Moldova, the western Balkans and increasing the size of the EU. Regarding competitiveness, the Draghi report, sustainable development and strategic autonomy, where does the ambassador see the major inputs for Denmark and those who will follow it in the Presidency?

That is a sufficient number of questions to get the ambassador started.