John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Hopefully the Chair will be lenient with time due to the heckling and interruptions.

Europe is arguably enmeshed in the most critical security crisis since the Second World War, a security crisis that continues to have national, regional and global ramifications. Amid the horror of human rights abuses and war crimes committed by Russia, Vladimir Putin saw fit to introduce the unprecedented threat of nuclear attack, a development that has been utterly condemned by all right-thinking people across the globe for its utter recklessness.

The effects of the war in Ukraine on climate change and regional instability have combined to produce a human crisis on a massive scale in the global south. Without a commitment from the international community, the crisis in the Horn of Africa will continue to produce human suffering on an extraordinary scale. I appeal to the Taoiseach and the Minister of State to ensure that humanitarian crises are placed at the centre of the EU agenda and that the clamour for war emanating from within sections of the EU is not allowed to overshadow the commitment to humanitarian and egalitarian principles, which the EU is purportedly grounded upon.

As a militarily non-aligned nation, Ireland has a moral responsibility both to uphold that position and to harness the moral and ethical record of our role in international affairs as being the dissenting voice that can act as a counterweight, which places the humanitarian responsibilities of the EU at the forefront of discourse within the union. In that vein, it is incumbent on us to draw attention to the recent totally unacceptable comments of Josep Borrell when he described Europe as the "garden" of the world and the world outside as a "jungle" trying to get in. Such comments re-emphasise the need for countries such as Ireland to act as a moral counterweight to emerging narratives of European exceptionalism that, if left unchecked, could witness a return of the colonial mindset that wrought such a blight on the world in the past.

I want to send solidarity to those in Iran who continue to protest against the unjust laws and human rights abuses that led to the death of a young woman in police custody, whose only crime was to offend a distorted and grotesque sense of morality through her refusal to wear a hijab.

While I have spoken about Ireland's responsibility to be the voice in Europe that places international human rights at the centre of the EU agenda, the Government also has a central responsibility to address the needs of the Irish people both in Europe and Ireland. The reality is the continuum of crises that have impacted on this Island in recent years have left large swathes of people in a very vulnerable position. From Brexit, to Covid, to the ongoing impact of the war in Ukraine, the aggregate impact of these crises is being felt in almost every household. In many respects, the failure of the coalition Government to provide the necessary leadership at home, in the face of the crushing cost-of-living crisis, has undermined its role in Europe.

Current energy costs, the result of Russia’s weaponisation of energy supplies, come at a time when many energy companies are enjoying record profits and have left many householders across the State with the stark and unimaginable choice of heating their homes or providing food for their families to eat. The failure of the EU to address the energy crisis, coupled with the failure of the Government to address the crisis at home, merely compounds the misery for ordinary people and stands as a damning and unforgivable indictment of this Government's failure.

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