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

Deputy Haughey raised the issue of the European Political Community. It is a significant development when 44 countries come together in an overall forum. Earlier, there had been some concerns that this was a substitute for enlargement, for example, but it is not that. This was very clear from the deliberations at the forum. I attended one of the break-out meetings on energy. These meetings were very good and concrete engagements, in particular with the Prime Minister of Norway regarding renewables, and also looking forward to stabilising pricing with Norway, exports of oil and so on. It was very good and meaningful engagement between countries. There were Azerbaijan-Armenia discussions after dinner, mediated by France, which were about those two countries accepting an EU civilian group in respect of the borders there. One can see the potential for the European Political Community to be, at a minimum, a forum where issues can be resolved, the potential for conflict reduced and challenging issues dealt with. I am not clear yet that it is time for any structure because that could lead to people leaving. The forum is not the European Union, and it is not meant to be a replica of the European Union. The fact that the United Kingdom attended was good.

This all means that it is a forum at which people who are not in the European Union can engage with members of the latter. Over time, the number of meetings may increase but the international calendar is very full. The next meeting is due to take place in early part of next year in Moldova. After that, there will be meetings in Spain and the UK. Those involved are looking at having meetings once every six months. I take the Deputy's point but, over time, that may grow. In between, there will be: the formal meetings of the European Union with the full councils; the Asia-Europe, meeting, ASEM; the EU-China summit; the China-Western Balkans meeting; the China-EU meeting; and the China-East Asia summit, ASEAN. Suddenly, one begins to see that the calendar fills up very quickly. To answer the Deputy's question, there is a future for the European Union within the European Political Community. I came away from the meeting thinking that the forum has real potential from the point of view the very basic premise of people meeting and engaging in breaking down barriers.

Deputy McDonald raised the issue of the planning system insofar as it relates to energy security, but that probably belongs to a different question with regard to An Bord Pleanála or housing. The Government hopes to publish a review of the planning system shortly. That review has been under way for over 12 months, with a lot of expertise brought to bear in the context of streamlining our planning system. In the context of energy security, in particular renewables and offshore wind, we need to get offshore wind projects into operation much faster than is currently the case. The European Union carried out an analysis in this regard. It has indicated that it can take eight years from concept to realisation of an offshore wind farm coming into operation in Europe. I have a suspicion that it would take longer here. Therefore, we must do everything we possibly can to make sure we do that because offshore wind is the real alternative to fossil fuels for this country. It is the real answer to fossil fuels and to reducing our dependency on them.

In addition, there does need to be reform of An Bord Pleanála. There needs to be change there and additional resources need to be provided. The Minister for Justice is looking at an environmental court as well to strengthen on the judicial side our overall response to environmental and climate change issues.

On Deputy Barry's question, we do raise, on a constant basis, breaches of human rights, both through the European Union and bilaterally with countries such as Qatar. Again, with regard to the World Cup, I do not believe that Qatar would have been able to sportswash. It has had the opposite impact to date. Far more issues have resurfaced as a result of Qatar hosting the World Cup than might have been the case with international profiling of issues. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, and the Government have spoken out against breaches of human rights.

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the issue of neutrality. Neutrality in Ireland has meant that Ireland is not a member of a military alliance.

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