John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Since the European Council last met, another deadline in the Northern Assembly has come and gone, with the DUP still refusing to re-enter the Executive. Ministers can no longer hold office and take decisions to support the people in the North. The DUP has cited concerns about the protocol, but in reality it is holding democracy to ransom. There is no justification for putting Stormont on ice while talks about the protocol continue. While the DUP refuses to allow politicians in the North to do their jobs, ordinary people pay the price as they are abandoned at the time of an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis. Ordinary workers and families are worried about paying their bills, keeping the lights on and weathering the cost of the cost-of-living crisis. They cannot afford to be held to ransom by the DUP refusing to re-enter the Executive to work on protecting hard-pressed people from rising prices. Across the North, people want to see their political leaders working together to tackle the big issues, such as investing in the health system and ensuring people can pay their energy bills, not political stunts and brinkmanship that grabs headlines but ultimately achieves nothing. The DUP must get back into the Executive without any more delay or posturing. It must accept the outcome of May’s election and get back to work. Issues around the protocol exist, but they can be resolved through dialogue, partnership and a genuine commitment to ensuring the needs of people in the North are met. This is a time for political leadership and a genuine commitment to delivering solutions, not empty stunts and inflammatory rhetoric.

I believe our European partners are determined to resolve the issues around the protocol. I hope the Taoiseach impressed on the leaders at the European Council the importance of stable governance in the North and the need for the British Government to stop placating the DUP’s antics and to genuinely deliver for the people in the North. It is crucial now that the British Government engages in good faith with constructive negotiations with the European Union and that it abandons the reckless approach of the past.

The protocol protects all-Ireland trade, the Good Friday Agreement, communities and business in the North from the damage caused by Brexit. Indeed, many businesses have spoken of the positive effects of the protocol, as it gives them the best of both worlds through access to the British and EU markets. Many businesses have experienced how the protocol continues to help in the creation of jobs and attracting investment. While it is not perfect, issues around the protocol can be resolved through good faith discussions. Indeed, in the current economic climate, the protocol must be built upon and protected rather than undermined. There is no credible alternative to the protocol, and those who attack it while providing no alternative are absolutely fooling no one.

It is to be hoped the Taoiseach made it clear to our European colleagues at the European Council that support for the protocol in Ireland is clear, steadfast and crucial for protecting the North’s interests. I would also be interested to hear whether he made clear the need for the DUP to end its appalling boycott of the North’s democratic institutions and whether he secured support for the restoration of the political institutions in the North and the formation of an Executive that can make politics work for everyone in the North. I hope he secured commitments from European colleagues that they will continue to work on constructive solutions around the protocol and to insist the British Government and the DUP end their bad faith posturing and deliver solutions that genuinely meet the needs of the people in the North.

I also welcome the Council’s ongoing support for the people of Ukraine amid their continuing struggle to bring an end to the brutal Russian invasion and partial occupation of their country. While reports of recent and ongoing Ukrainian military success, particularly in Kherson, lend themselves to the belief that the conflict is moving towards a scenario where we may well see a route emerging to a position where both sides may be able to engage in negotiations, I believe this remains some way off at the moment. However, every effort must be made to push for negotiations to bring the brutal invasion, the occupation and war to an end. Undoubtedly, there is growing pressure on Vladimir Putin as a result of the many military setbacks suffered by his forces since the Ukrainian counteroffensive began. Unfortunately, the failure of EU leaders to come to an agreement to address the impacts of the global energy crisis on the Continent lays bare the soft underbelly of the western strategy of support of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military successes have made Russia more reliant on and likely to engage in the hybrid flank of war effort, a major aspect of which is predicated on the Russian belief that the EU and the wider western world lacks the ability or will to sustain the ongoing economic, social and political impact of its support for Ukraine. The ability of the Russian leader to instrumentalise energy and food supplies along with the fate of refugees and their impact on the EU, not to mention the wider world, remains a major concern. In particular, the failure of the EU leaders to secure agreement at the European Council on the issue of price caps on energy supplies effectively undermines the Ukrainian war effort and offers succour to Putin in the longer term.

On our own national situation, the slipshod ad hocery, so to speak, we have witnessed in the Government’s failure to put in place a tangible and workable plan to accommodate the well-advertised number of refugees who were expected from Ukraine into Ireland is a disgrace. The Government and its supporters want to talk up the supposed benefits of undermining Irish neutrality in terms of the military role Ireland could play in the conflict in Ukraine, yet it cannot accomplish its part in the key role asked of the EU by Ukraine, which is preventing Russia from using those Ukrainian citizens forced to flee in the face of Russian aggression as an instrument to undermine the political will of the EU to continue the scale of its support for Ukraine. Now that Russia has sanctioned 52 Irish politicians, will the Irish Government finally come to the realisation that we have to send a clear, strong message to the Russians and Putin by terminating the Russian ambassador’s existence here in this State and finally make the decision to expel Yuri Filatov from Ireland?

While the EU is firmly focused on the external threat of Russia to EU democracy, it appears to be much less concerned at the ongoing threat to the values of democracy across the EU by the actions of individual member states in the use of spyware on EU citizens. That is according to the senior MEP charged with leading the inquiry into the use of Pegasus spyware. Sophie in ‘t Veld has accused the European Commission of ignoring the grave threat to democracy posed by the use of spyware by governments of EU member states and the failure of members to co-operate with her inquiry.

The investigation has revealed that the phones of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and other key officials, opposition figures and journalists across Europe were being monitored. The Commission remains silent on the threat. According to Ms in 't Veld, this has created a climate of lawlessness around the use of spyware on citizens within the EU. Is the Irish Government one of the EU governments that has refused to co-operate with the investigation into the use of Pegasus, the hacking software sold by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, and other equivalent software?

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