Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for outlining the developments at the meeting of the European political community on 6 October. We know the meeting this week of European leaders, on 20 and 21 October, comes at a pivotal moment in the plans for tackling the energy emergency and cost-of-living crisis, as well as the ongoing response of Europe to Russia's brutal war against the people of Ukraine. What matters most to people, however, is the tangible proposals that emerge from the Council meeting and whether they will be implemented before winter.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the annual congress of the Party of European Socialists in Berlin on behalf of the Labour Party. Among the addresses at the conference was that of German Chancellor Mr. Olaf Scholz, leader of the Social Democratic Party in Germany. He spoke in support of the accession of western Balkan states. I am glad the Taoiseach also spoke in support of the accession of Bosnia Herzegovina and Albania.

At the congress in Berlin, socialists and social democrats from across Europe gathered to discuss policies on energy, inflation, climate change and social challenges. I was privileged to meet with socialist prime ministers from the many countries across the EU who have already acted on energy prices. I was privileged and proud to address members on the need for stronger collective bargaining rights and on the issue of a pay raise for workers, as well as the need for collective action on energy prices. What I heard from leaders across Europe was about bold national actions being taken to reduce costs and tackle the energy crisis. Unfortunately, here in Ireland, we have seen much slower progress by the Government on policies in this area.

For many months, we in the Labour Party have been arguing for a comprehensive response to the energy in Ireland, including the introduction of a windfall tax on energy profits, a cap on the price of energy modelled on the Iberian approach, and the temporary nationalisation of the Corrib gas field. Weeks on from the budget, despite the Tánaiste confirming to me in this House last week that a windfall tax would be introduced, we still have no sense of when that will happen or, indeed, what type of tax it will be. Will we have to rely on EU legislation for this tax or will provision be made for this in the Finance Bill?

We have seen other member states take initiatives at national level, therefore, we do not need to wait for an EU-wide initiative. As I mentioned, Spain and Portugal have already intervened. The Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain and Prime Minister Antonio Costa of Portugal, with whom I engaged at the weekend, are both socialist prime ministers who have intervened to ensure there is state regulation of dysfunctional gas and electricity markets. As socialists, they recognise that governments must act and intervene in the market to protect their people and they have saved billions of euro for their citizens by doing so. Their Iberian model of energy cap has been the subject of intensive debate and interest in Europe over the past month, but it is still not clear if the EU will act or if something will come out of the European Council meeting later this week.

I ask you Minister of State to speak to the Taoiseach and to confirm if Ireland will support the Spanish and Portuguese Iberian model introduced by our sister socialist parties. The actions of Spain and Portugal have shown the sort of proactive measures that socialists in government can and have taken to protect their citizens from the fallout of Putin's brutal war in Ukraine. We acknowledge that designing and costing an energy price cap is complex and that there are different ways to go about doing so, but we know that across this country households and businesses are suffering now and are fearful about the impact of the next energy bill upon their homes and businesses. Once-off payments and energy credits of the sort the Government has introduced will simply not be enough because businesses are closing and people are struggling to heat their homes and we have not even entered the real winter months yet. People cannot wait any longer for the EU to act and we are were calling on the Government to intervene now in the gas and electricity market in Ireland.

On the Council's deliberations on the war in Ukraine, it is good to hear the Taoiseach confirming strong solidarity across EU states in their opposition to Russia's brutal war and in their determination to give greater aid to Ukraine. I ask that Ireland commits to giving more financial aid to support civilian social programmes, including funds to support education, health and social welfare, and to support local communities in welcoming Ukrainian visitors to Ireland, alongside investment for Ukraine in rebuilding and recovering from the despicable attacks we have seen on ordinary people. I ask that the Council consider the escalatory attacks of Russia over the past week, assisted by Iranian-made drones. We have seen the targeting of energy infrastructure and civilian apartment complexes by Russia, which are blatant war crimes.

In response to a question from Deputy Howlin in the Dáil last week, the Minister for Foreign Affairs confirmed there are 26 officers at the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Ireland, 11 diplomats and 15 administrative and technical staff. What reason is there for 26 staff to be retained at the Russian Embassy here?

We need to act and break off diplomatic relations with Russia. We are seeing horrific war crimes being committed and escalating reactions in the past week alone. Why can we not move to expel embassy staff? I welcomed the expulsion of some embassy staff earlier in the conflict, but let us move further to expel the other staff. At this point, we should flag the removal of our embassy from Russia. It should and must become an international pariah. I ask that stronger action be taken at EU level and here to express our outright condemnation of Russia's brutality and war crimes against Ukraine.

See this speech in context