Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We will, of course, be glad to intensify political co-operation. The Georgian delegation visited in the early part of 2018 while two parliamentary delegations visited Georgia in 2017. This demonstrates the interest in intensifying relations and building up trade opportunities on the part of both countries. We wish Georgia well in its continuing preparation to become a candidate for membership of the EU. As Deputy Barrett and others have referred to, we have been conscious of a neighbour causing difficulties over the year and we know this is a huge issue in Georgia. I said at the outset that the clear message we got when we visited Georgia was the complete concern and worry about the violation of its territorial integrity. This must be a major issue for the international community. We are delighted that the delegation was able to accept our invitation to attend and we will see it later.