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

On the questions raised by Deputy Paul Murphy, we always provide consular support to Irish citizens in any sort of difficulty. I will check to see that the embassy will be represented in the courts tomorrow. Greece is a member of the European Union and we do not, ordinarily, interfere in the judicial process in countries but we will keep a very close eye on this. We support humanitarian endeavours to protect migrants and we have been involved, as a state actor, in helping migrants in a very challenging position on our seas. I will examine this and ask officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs and elsewhere to pursue the matter.

Deputy Haughey raised a key issue in respect of Belarus and the Lukashenko regime. Suffice it to say that I am particularly angry about this matter, as are most leaders of the EU Council. We have condemned without hesitation the Lukashenko regime's exploitation of migrants for political purposes. We heard first-hand what is happening on the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and it is quite shocking how people and migrants in particular are being used by Lukashenko as a retaliation measure against Europe for earlier sanctions arising from the kidnapping of a journalist on a plane in European airspace.

Ireland is co-sponsoring a fifth package of EU sanctions and new, broadened criteria were agreed by the European Union foreign ministers on Monday this week. I welcome that. This new package of sanctions will be finalised very soon.

Essentially, Lukashenko has stranded thousands of migrants in a freezing cold forest in an attempt to blackmail the European Union and that simply will not work. We must ensure migrants are warm, safe and fed, and Ireland has donated €100,000 to the Lithuanian Red Cross to help it to achieve that aim. We want to see international aid agencies and independent monitors given access to assist migrants on both sides of the border and we will continue to work towards this.

Some recent reporting has implied that because Ireland is an international hub for aircraft leasing companies, we will oppose sanctions on Belavia, the airline, and this is entirely untrue. Ireland fully supports the sanctions against all those responsible for the exploitation of migrants and we are co-sponsoring a fifth package of sanctions in this regard, as I stated. We all want Belarus to stop these flights using any aircraft, including those that are EU-owned. Irish officials are currently assisting the Commission in working out the legal and practical difficulties involved in ensuring sanctions are legally sound, work in practice and are not counterproductive.

We must also stem the flow of migrants to Belarus by sending clear messages about the risks involved. The European Union Commission and the European External Action Service have already successfully persuaded certain countries of origin and airlines to take action on this, which is welcome. They have gone to country authorities and airlines, explained what is going on and asked them to stop. It is a fairly strong response, to be fair. We must also be mindful of international protection and our duties and obligations under the Geneva Convention. We must respond in a balanced way and ensure the humanitarian crisis experienced by migrants is also addressed. It is a challenging issue all around.

On the question of Russia, there is some concern around increased mobilisation but it is very difficult to assess because this has happened before but not led to an invasion. One hopes it will not lead to an invasion. The indications some time back were that it would not but one can never be certain of this, of course.

On COP26, although there has been disappointment about the fossil fuels provisions, the work keeps alive the 1.5°C ceiling. The biggest game changer has been the United States and its changing of the preceding US Administration's approach in signing up to the Paris accords. President Biden's Administration has been very proactive in working with the European Union and China on climate change. In my last conversation with him, I paid tribute to him on the China partnership relating to climate change. It was at the weekend, when he rang to congratulate me on Ireland's success in the rugby. We discussed climate change as well. That the US is pushing so strongly in a global approach is yielding results. A fair degree of momentum will come from Glasgow, particularly with climate finance and adaptation supports. There is also a new dialogue emerging on loss and damage. These are concrete supports and declarations on deforestation have also been important.

The last-minute changes were disappointing, specifically the change in wording from "phasing out" to "phasing down" with regard to coal. It is still a very ambitious deal and that is the overall observation of our team there. I pay tribute to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who chaired an important session of the negotiations on behalf of the European Union. Ireland played a very proactive, strong and positive role at COP26 on a number of fronts.

The challenge for all of us is to deliver domestically and at European level. Deputy Ó Murchú spoke about the energy crisis. Europe is limited in this in some respects but what was clear from the meeting was that renewables are ultimately the way to go to reduce total dependence on Russian or imported gas. We will return to this regardless of whether Europe engages in the procurement of energy supplies on a pan-European basis. There is some distance to go before that happens, if we look at the realpolitik. Nonetheless, Europe is seized of the crisis. Looking at the energy mix, gas will always be a transitional fuel and we must push on with renewables.

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