Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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We have a quorum and will now commence in public session. Deputy Darragh O'Brien has proposed a motion of support for the territorial integrity of Georgia and its integration into the European Union. I ask the Deputy to move the motion.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I move:

That the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence:- welcomes an impressive growth of political relations and co-operation in a variety of fields over the last few years between Ireland and Georgia, and expresses hope that bilateral ties will continue to further deepen; the newly opened Georgian Embassy will contribute to this process;

- reaffirms Ireland’s unwavering support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders;

- welcomes Georgia’s progress achieved on its European integration path and is of the opinion that the EU-Georgia Association Agreement/DCFTA represents an important step in the European way of Georgia and its citizens and opens up qualitatively new perspectives in bilateral relations;

- supports further integration of Georgia in the European Union, and emphasises the need for Georgia to focus on successful implementation of the European Union Association Agreement in the coming years;

- commends the progress achieved by Georgia in implementing the EU-Georgia visa liberalisation action plan, and supports the urgent completion of the visa liberalisation between Georgia and the European Union, a process that is of most importance for the future European integration of Georgia;

- underlines that Ireland and Georgia should continue close co-operation with the aim to further deepen Georgian-Irish partnership both in bilateral and multilateral formats, and work together towards an open Europe of unity and solidarity, to contribute to global peace and security.

I am glad that the motion has cross-party support. The motion, as listed, supports the territorial integrity of Georgia and its further integration into the European Union.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I support the motion. I acknowledge the work of the Georgian chargé d'affaires in pursuing the interests of Georgia. Having recently attended a meeting of the EU's foreign affairs committees in Pristina, there is no doubt about the interest in EU enlargement among the countries of the western Balkans.

I acknowledge what Deputy Darragh O'Brien has done in addition to what the Embassy of Georgia here has done. I am happy to support the motion.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I support Deputy Darragh O'Brien's motion and welcome the Georgian delegation to the committee.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I also support the motion, which has unanimous backing in this committee. When the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Commissioner Frans Timmermans, was here on Tuesday, I took the opportunity to mention the huge progress that Georgia had made. It has made significant strides on the path to EU accession. As Mr. Timmermans said, the current mandate of the Commission does not include enlargement policies. It is important, however, to put on record the huge progress that Georgia has made. Hopefully, we will see that further step in future. Like my colleagues, I wish to compliment the Georgian representatives on their ongoing work in building relations with Irish society in general.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The motion will be reported to Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann. I propose that a copy of the text of the agreed motion be forwarded to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and to the Oireachtas permanent representative in Brussels for the information of other EU member states. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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Georgia is quite good at rugby as well, so they might try to get into the "seven nations" tournament.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Before we go into private session, I wish to comment on an incident at Trinity College the other night. The organisers of an event and the Provost of the college quite rightly condemned the fact that the Israeli ambassador was denied an opportunity to speak. People should always be given the opportunity to speak and engage in dialogue, regardless of what views we may hold on the content of their speeches. The diplomatic corps is about communicating and representing one's country. That was an unfortunate incident and I hope it will not be repeated anywhere in Ireland in respect of representatives from any other countries.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I completely agree with the Chairman on that issue. It is not right that anyone should be denied the right to speak, particularly an ambassador. The Israeli ambassador, Mr. Boker, does a good job here. We do not always have to agree on everything. As the Chairman said, however, it is crucially important that everyone has the right to ventilate his or her point of view. I strongly condemn the actions of that small group of students who denied the Israeli ambassador the right to speak in Trinity College earlier this week.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I was appalled to read about what happened to the Israeli ambassador. He had been invited to speak by a group of students in Trinity College but was denied the right to do so. If we were to apply that behaviour to other parts of the world, - for example, Northern Ireland, Colombia and other conflict regions - we would be shutting the door on dialogue and communications which, as we know, produce results in the end.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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On behalf of the committee, I will communicate the views expressed here to the ambassador.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I know that Deputy Grealish had to rearrange his diary in order to get here to support the motion, and I appreciate that. It is important that the Georgian representatives should know that. We will now go into private session.