Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As is evident from the Taoiseach's contribution, there is a wide agenda for this week's EU Council meeting. There will be a sharp focus on Covid-19, the vaccination situation across the European Union and the post-Covid economic recovery plan, all of which relate to our business and our prospects as a country. A number of related matters are important to us. I will briefly touch on a few of them.

On the roll-out of the vaccines and vaccine acquisition, after a slow start it is reasonable for the Taoiseach to suggest that the co-operation agreement across Europe in acting jointly on vaccine acquisition has been the right one, but our experience with individual companies has not been uniform. As it turns out, Pfizer BioNTech has been the workhorse of the vaccine programme in this country and in many others. Its delivery has been reliable, its word honoured and its contract good. The same cannot be said of AstraZeneca and that has posed real issues for us. The cohort of people in their 60s, who are among the most vulnerable in terms of age according to the criteria set by the Taoiseach and the Government, have not been fully vaccinated because they are still awaiting their second dose of AstraZeneca. I hope that when the Taoiseach or the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, are concluding this debate, they will make it crystal clear that, as per the schedule set out, everyone in that cohort who has received their first dose of AstraZeneca will get their second dose by mid-July, as expected, and that AstraZeneca is committed to providing those vaccines. In terms of the planning for vaccination next year and so on, the Taoiseach touched on that during Leaders' Questions. There are questions to be set straight in regard to the necessity for booster doses for those who have received the Janssen vaccine and the availability and timeline for same. We will return to that on another occasion.

Another important aspect is the issue of free movement of European citizens, one of the four pillars underpinning the legal framework of the European Union. The EU digital Covid certificates are to be issued from next month and Ireland is to participate. I sincerely hope that commitment becomes a reality. On the post-pandemic recovery plan, there is a lack of clarity in how the financial supports set out are to be made available to Ireland. The Taoiseach mentioned the recovery and resilience facility. That facility consists of €672.5 billion, of which less than half, or €312.5 billion, is grant aid. According to the Taoiseach's statement, of that €672 billion Ireland is to receive of the order of €915 million, which is a very small percentage for Ireland. According to the EU Commission website, the €915 million is EU and national funds. I would like to have underscored exactly how much money Ireland will get and when we will get it.

Other issues that will be discussed include Russia. The May conclusions pointed to a stark underlining of the worsening of the relationship between the EU and Russia. In those conclusions, the Council condemns "illegal, provocative and disruptive Russian activities against the EU, its Member States and beyond". Those are very strong words from the EU in relation to Russia. We have since had the cyberattack on the HSE and the Department of Health. We understand that the cyberattack emanated from a criminal gang based in St. Petersburg. Has the Government raised directly with the Russian authorities what action they have taken to find out how this group operates, if they will take action to ensure those involved are brought to justice and if they will co-operate with Ireland in that regard?

Turkey was mentioned. The human rights record of President Erdoğan is shocking. We depend on Turkey to absorb migrants that want to come to this country and to the European Union. I listened to other Deputies mention this and they are right, but the solution to that is not so evident. If we do not depend on Turkey, what do we do? There are 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. A shocking number of people have been dislocated, thrown out of their own countries fearing persecution. Not only are there 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, there are 400,000 others from Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. We need to have a different dialogue with Turkey and to not become complicit with the human rights abuses that are ongoing in that state.

In the time remaining to me, I want to mention the Israel-Palestine conflict. There is a new Israeli Government and, I hope, a prospect for a new initiative. As I said in the last three contributions I made on this issue, we get very focused when there is conflict and we then lose our focus when the conflict results in ceasefire but the underlying reason for that conflict - the annexation - continues.

We need a very clear proactive initiative by Ireland and like-minded countries to bring about a two-state solution once and for all, as opposed to the endless talk about such a solution. Perhaps there is an opportunity to do so in light of the new Israeli Government.

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