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

I would like to think we are already. No one is stepping back. As I said at the end of my response to the Deputy's previous question, of the 22 countries that have national plans on business and human rights, 16 of them are in the EU. The EU is trying to give leadership in this area. We have made the case that the EU should do more, although I would not say that was the only contributing factor to the EU making statements at both the start and end of the session. Many of the issues that require regulation in how transnational companies operate within the EU and the functioning of the Single Market have to be done at EU level by the European Commission. We will continue to advocate that the EU can do more. This has to be a global response or, otherwise, we will see certain parts of the world taking this seriously and other parts of the world not doing anything. That is why, ultimately, this needs to be a UN-led process with EU leadership driving the change that is needed. I am certainly happy that Ireland would be one of the leaders within the EU to try to deliver that change.

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