Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ireland's position is that the European Union makes collective decisions on trade. It is an EU competence. A number of member states spoke yesterday to make the point that, even though they had sold arms to Saudi Arabia in the past, they had a policy of not selling arms to countries currently involved in conflict and, therefore, were not continuing to sell to Saudi Arabia. I do not believe there is the capacity to reach consensus on an EU position because any one member state could prevent it. While this affects the possibility of reaching a collective EU position on an arms embargo, there is an opportunity that the European Union needs to take in applying as much influence as it can at UN level where, to its credit, the United Kingdom is leading within the UN Security Council and other EU countries are supporting discussions that can lead to a permanent ceasefire. There are indications from the Houthi side that that is what it is willing to accept. It is why there is now a prospect of talks taking place in Sweden before the end of the year which we hope will be substantive. There has not yet been confirmation that both sides will turn up to those talks, but that is the hope. For the first time in many months, there is a realistic prospect of a lasting ceasefire, on which we need to focus.

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