Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Deputies for their contributions. The Taoiseach has asked me to update the House on a number of areas. I will also respond to some of the points made in the time available to me. Deputy Martin raised the issue of Ukraine and noted the seriousness of it. Further progress with regard to our relationship with Georgia and Moldova is a very important development that will take place at the forthcoming summit in the next two days. These countries have been directly affected by much of what has happened in Ukraine. That summit will see the signing of the deep and comprehensive free trade agreements covering all goods and services that form part of the association agreement with each country. The signing of these agreements will take place in the margins of the European Council. It is important to recognise that along with Ukraine, both countries were part of the Eastern Partnership summit and the partnership arrangement with the EU. Ukraine decided not to go down that route, but Georgia and Moldova have gone down it and have continued to find ways of deepening their relationship with the EU. The signing of these agreements at the summit across the next two days recognises the progress they are making and looks to find further ways of deepening their relationship with the EU.

I welcome the election of Petro Poroshenko following the presidential election on 25 May in Ukraine. The EU and Ireland have always stressed the importance of those elections. Many colleagues, including Deputy Boyd Barrett, have on a number of occasions raised issues relating to the legitimacy of elections in Ukraine and how an inclusive administration and government can be put in place. A point I made then and would re-emphasise is that the first step in doing this was the holding of elections, particularly the presidential election that took place. President Poroshenko has a very strong mandate in respect of reforms and doing all he can to turn Ukraine into a modern and democratic country in which different identities and minorities are respected and recognised by their own administration. We look forward to meeting the president in Brussels at the signing ceremony on Friday and to hearing his assessment of the current situation and what can be done to deliver a peaceful situation, particularly in light of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, which remains extremely serious.

The Heads of State and Government may also examine the worrying developments in Iraq, which were touched on by Deputy Coppinger. Ireland and other EU members are greatly concerned about the rapid deterioration of the situation in that country. It goes without saying that the activities of the forces there not only raise great concerns about Iraq but raise very grave concerns about the stability of the wider region. It therefore remains critical that all Iraqi political leaders come together in a more constructive and inclusive manner to overcome this crisis, reject sectarianism and promote national unity for all Iraqis.

The European Council will also be asked to endorse a decision to grant EU candidate status to Albania. This is the very first step in Albania's acquisition of candidate status and its attempt to find a way to deepen its relationship with the EU while, at some point in time, developing the ability to begin the process of applying for accession to the EU. I visited Albania earlier in the year and saw at first hand the progress it has made, but also how much more it wants to do and how much more needs to be done. The granting of candidate status, which the European Council will be asked to endorse in the next two days, is a very important incentive and signal with regard to Albania's maintaining the work it is doing and continuing with its reform agenda.

Deputy Crowe raised the issue of energy security. The March European Council asked the Commission to prepare a detailed plan in respect of this, looking in particular at how energy dependency can be reduced and what needs to be done from an interconnectivity perspective - in other words, the sharing of energy between different member states. The Commission issued its strategy relating to this on 28 May. It looks at medium and long-term approaches to energy efficiency and will also look to prioritise the needs of member states most likely to be affected by possible supply disruption.

Deputy Martin asked how the EU would respond in a more long-term fashion to the crisis that has afflicted everybody. He also made the very fair point that despite the amount of attention garnered by extremist gains within the European Parliament, such people are still in the minority, and larger parties of the centre still have a majority. A strategy will be published by the European Council which will be very top-line but which will make very clear choices regarding how the EU will respond over the next five years to the social effects of the crisis with which we are all dealing.

In respect of the points made by Deputy Ross relating to retroactive bank recapitalisation, I would make the point that Deputy Ross campaigned against Ireland joining the very fund which is capable of supplying this when he campaigned against the fiscal governance treaty that took place two years ago. He is criticising Ireland with regard to how we may handle an application to the fund, but let us be very clear that he did not want Ireland to have the ability to join that fund when he campaigned against the fiscal governance treaty.

Ireland has a very proud tradition of sending forward Commissioners who have done a superb job within the Commission - doing their job extremely well and advancing the interests of Europe.

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