Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There is a disconnect in what we hear and read emanating from Brussels and elsewhere on PESCO. Throughout the discussions and again in the House today the Taoiseach has said it concerns issues such as cybercrime or peacekeeping training. However, what has been said by President Tusk and others leads one to believe that it is the culmination of years of aspiration for a move towards a European defence union. I am very concerned that because of that dishonest disconnect, we are not being straight with the Irish people as to what we are doing and entering and we are making a mistake in that regard. If we are to progress towards a more integrated Union, it cannot be on the basis of inaccuracies or deceit or not telling the whole truth. That is what I fear and it is one of the reasons I opposed and am concerned by our commitment to PESCO.

I am particularly concerned about the nature of the development because it seems that the entire focus is on the southern borders of the EU and the security situation in terms of the relationship across the Mediterranean with north Africa and the Middle East. In that regard, as was earlier mentioned by Deputy Boyd Barrett and others, Libya was previously thrown into anarchy and chaos by the actions of our neighbours, Britain and France, in their application of military solutions in that country. Investment in military infrastructure will not address the security and peace issues on the southern borders of Europe.

If we are serious about peace in the Middle East and our relationships with countries in that region, the Taoiseach must show a lead in joining and going further than the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, by stating that we cannot tolerate the actions of the US President in threatening to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of the Israeli State. There is a possible opportunity at this time. The Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, today said that the US can no longer be seen as a mediator or accepted as an honest broker in a negotiated settlement. Rather than deploying military force and might, Europe should take diplomatic and political actions against the State of Israel, seek compensation for the damage done by Israel to European-funded investments in Palestine and recognise that the actions taken in illegal settlements cannot be tolerated. Europe must step up to the plate and not allow the further vacuum created by the actions of President Trump go without response.

As regards Brexit, I said last week to the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, and her colleagues that I was proud and thought it was a good week for Irish politics. We were united in the Dáil and with our European colleagues, which helped us get an agreement that two weeks previously I did not think we would have been able to get.

When I read on Monday last week the original transcript I was surprised that there was such specific clarity regarding future full alignment in the North of Ireland with the Single Market and customs union. That wording surprised and pleased me. In a strange way, what happened last week, the political mess of the DUP having to be appeased, led to a further improvement in the communiqué regarding a commitment to try to avoid east-west divergence as the Northern Assembly might manage and administer it. Everything we have heard since from British Government members has completely undermined that confidence because the question Deputy Brendan Howlin asked earlier is the vital one: is their backstop guarantee a real guarantee? Was their word their bond when they wrote the words "in the event of not getting a trade deal"? We all know, as does anyone involved in this process, that the chances of their getting their flight of fancy trade deal is so remote that the backstop guarantee is called immediately into question. We have a particularly difficult situation because the main opposition party in the UK seems as duplicitous as the Government in answering the obvious, straight questions we must ask. We will continue to support the Government in trying to get straight answers to these questions. We believe there needs to be change. My colleague, Steven Agnew, sits in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly itself needs to look at how this will be worked out. We cannot just leave the current situation stuck as is. We need to consider the constitutional arrangements in the North in implementing this and we will help in that process.

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