Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take Deputy Brendan Smith's point on Russia. There was a good meeting and a good discussion including at a prior Council meeting for some time. The point has been made that the five principles that govern the EU's approach in the relationship include the full implementation of the Minsk agreements and strengthening relations with eastern partner countries, which was reiterated at the latest Council meeting. Several member states articulated the need to reach out and engage with eastern partner counties and, indeed, other countries of central Asia. Strengthening EU resilience to Russian threats is a key principle as well as selective engagement with Russia on certain issues such as counterterrorism, climate change and support for people-to-people contacts. Those are the five principles that govern member states and the EU generally in its relationship with Russia. The need for a unified approach across the EU is also important. Ireland supports an openness to selective engagement in certain areas, particularly climate security, Iran and Syria, but we believe that the pacing of that engagement is key. The recent behaviour of Russia in many areas has been unacceptable. That is the position at the moment and there is further work to be done. The High Representative, Josep Borrell, produced a good, comprehensive report on the status of the relationship with Russia right now and where he sees it going forward.

The general consensus was that we would pace the engagement but also see what the best model for engagement with the European Union is.

On the global footprint, I take the Deputy's point on Tbilisi. I will engage with the Minister for Foreign Affairs in respect of that. As he says, we are making progress on the Ukraine.

In terms of Deputy Paul Donnelly's points on the apartheid situation, it was interesting that when I met the UN Secretary General en margeof the meeting, he praised Ireland's contribution to the Security Council and Ireland's persistence on the situation in the Middle East, in particular in Palestine. The general international perception of Ireland is of a very activist, progressive and interventionist approach to the Middle East. That sometimes does not get articulated in the House. We should maintain the unity of purpose in terms of the broad principles that should govern our approach to a two-state solution and the ending of injustice. I accept the points that have been made by Deputies Donnelly and Boyd Barrett on the ongoing discrimination against Palestinians, which is unacceptable.

Deputy Kelly raised the Covid travel certificate. We are broadly on track in terms of the issuing of the certificates. We are making good progress in respect of that. Our objective was to sign up for 19 July. There will be a comprehensive presentation on the operationalisation of the system from the Irish perspective. We will operate the new digital certificate from 19 July for travel originating within the EU and EEA. What is particularly important for those travelling is to ascertain the status of how other member states are going to apply the certificate. That is important. People must check. On the way back in, people who are not vaccinated will be required to have a PCR test if they do not have proof of recovery from Covid.

We will broadly align ourselves to the EU approach to non-essential travel into the EU from third countries. There are ongoing discussions between the European Union and Great Britain as well as the United States of America. It would be desirable in respect of those two countries that we would have a unified, consistent approach and clear safety protocols for safe travel and public health advice. There will be a more comprehensive presentation on the issue in due course, but significant progress is being made in regard to it.

Deputy Kelly's point on long Covid is very well made. I am concerned about long Covid. Some of the debate that gets articulated regarding Covid from time to time is about the fact that it is okay because younger people do not go to hospital. I find that very annoying at times. Some 10% of all cases can develop into long Covid, which can have a significant negative effect on people for some time. The full implications of it have to be worked out. Europe has developed the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, HERA, group, which will probably develop into the HERA institute. It combines researchers, biotech companies, manufacturers and the medical authorisation agencies, in particular the European Medicines Agency, EMA, to deal with all these issues, both therapeutics and in terms of vaccines, where a lot of progress has been made.

Deputy Haughey raised a number of issues. We have agreed in principle with the Romanians to secure additional vaccines. We asked all EU states and we have got a very welcome response from Romania, which I appreciate. I had discussions with the Romanian President, and the arrangements are being worked out now between the two respective health systems. We have been in touch with other EU states in respect of that and the discussions remain to be brought to a conclusion.

We have been very strong on COVAX. Our view generally in the debate with the European Commission in terms of the global supply is towards giving additional resources to Africa, for example, to improve its production and manufacturing capacity. The European Union has pledged €1 billion to Africa in respect of additional capacity.

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