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

Deputy Richmond raised the issue of the level of my commitment to Northern Ireland. I appreciate his kind comments. In respect of the UK Prime Minister, both of us agree on the necessity to convene the assembly and the Executive and get them formed. That said, the intention of the UK Government to introduce unilateral legislation to circumvent the protocol is undermining political stability in Northern Ireland and is not conducive to getting a resolution of issues around the operation of the protocol. There aspects of the operation of the protocol that the European Union has signalled its interest in discussing with the UK Government. One gets the sense that domestic considerations are uppermost in terms of EU governments' assessment of all of this. It is very difficult to get a clear landing zone from the UK Government or, indeed, for the UK to involve itself with the EU in order to get an outcome. These issues can be resolved, just like the medicines issue was resolved last year.

The initiatives that Maroš Šefčovič put forward last October, in my view, formed the basis for decent and rounded negotiations to follow. What we got from Lord Frost was an attempt to torpedo that by invoking the European Court of Justice. This was not of concern to unionism at the time at all, if the truth be told. Unionism is concerned about the movement and transit of goods from the UK to Northern Ireland. Those issues are important and I believe they can be resolved. For the information of the other Deputies also, I met the Brexit business working group. It has done a lot of research. Manufacturing is doing very well in Northern Ireland and the protocol benefits manufacturing. The protocol benefits the dairy industry. The protocol benefits the meat industry. In its most recent survey, 65% of companies were managing the protocol well. Some 8% in the survey said they were experiencing significant difficulties. These are mainly consumer-facing companies or goods. We need to work on that 8% and make it more operable. I believe we can do that. We need to get the technocrats and the business people into the room as well because they know what works and what does not work, and what is practical and what is not practical. I picked this up from my meeting with the Brexit business working group.

Deputy Bacik raised similar issues to Deputy Richmond. I will follow up on the case with regard to the baby and Crumlin. I will certainly follow that up with the Minister. We must do everything we possibly can so that children are not waiting. They should not have to wait that long for treatment, attention, and intervention.

The Deputy was correct to say that bread-and-butter issues are what dominated the election in the North. The people in Northern Ireland will be very frustrated at the failure to convene an Assembly. When I visited the parties I said it is a very basic truth that in the democratic world when people vote through the ballot box and elect their representatives, they expect a parliament to be formed. It is the natural way in a democracy. The voice of the people in Northern Ireland must be heard. The Assembly should be convened forthwith and a speaker should be appointed. Subsequently, the Executive should be established.

On Deputy Ó Snodaigh's point, the British Prime Minister is, to be fair, very well apprised of the need for a functioning Executive and is committed to that. On the legacy issue, we have had a long-standing disagreement with the British Government around its initiative on that front. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, in terms of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, with the political parties in Northern Ireland have been arguing that. We do not accept the proposition that has been put forward by the British Government. In our view it is fundamentally against the wishes of the victims' families. It would, essentially, give many perpetrators of the most horrendous atrocities and crimes an amnesty. I am not just talking about those within state forces but also those in paramilitary groupings and other people who committed terrible atrocities. They could avoid any accountability or prospect of prosecution.

On the windfall tax, in the first instance I will make the point to the Deputies opposite that I take strong exception to what Deputy Murphy said. I said this morning that the Russian ambassador is blaming western governments. The Putin operation is in full operation propaganda-wise in blaming western governments for the 40% increase in energy costs that Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to. Russia is responsible for what is going on in the energy crisis. Russia is fundamentally responsible. Its war in Ukraine needs to be called out again and again. I note that the two Deputies did not call it out in respect of the issue.

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