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

Deputy Carthy began the round of questions and referred to the pig industry. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, has been working intensively with the industry and we are conscious of the difficulties and challenges it has been going through on a number of fronts. It is normally a viable industry and we will do everything we can to support it. We will work with European Commission leeway and flexibilities to do so and we will see what can be done to underpin that with the application of the Brexit fund. I understand the Deputy's comments on diplomacy and I welcome what is essentially a handbrake turn on his party's behalf in respect of the expulsion of Russian diplomats because I recall that not so long ago, the Deputy described the expulsion of a diplomat in a serious situation as undermining our military neutrality. Nonetheless, I welcome the Deputy's support of our initiative last week to remove four senior officials from the embassy.

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