Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. It is important that at every European Council the EU make it clear to the Russian leadership the need for it to demonstrate a clear political commitment to stop actions against the EU and its member states and, importantly, against third countries east of the European Union. We need full implementation of the Minsk agreements. It is important the EU intensifies its co-operation with eastern partners. I can well appreciate that at this time EU enlargement is not a priority due to so many other pressing issues, but it is one that should be advanced as incrementally as possible.

In that context, and from a national point of view, I welcome the expansion of the Irish global footprint, particularly with the opening of the Irish embassy in Ukraine. I hope that the Taoiseach will be able to give a commitment in the not-too-distant future to open an embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia. That would be very important. Ukraine and Georgia have suffered from occupation by Russia and human rights violations. It is not acceptable. These days we have non-military warfare with cyberattacks, disinformation and propaganda. All these issues need to be tackled because they are continuous series of aggressions.

The Northern Ireland protocol is very important. I represent two of the southern Ulster counties. Much of their business is cross-Border and many of our companies are interdependent, as is the economy, North and South. The EU must continue to honour its agreement but we also must ensure that the greatest efforts are made to remove all obstacles to trade because any disruption to trade in Northern Ireland disrupts the economy throughout the entire country.

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