Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I reject terms such as "European globalists". Deputy Mattie McGrath should look into the origins of those conspiracy theories.

The agenda for next week's meeting of the European Council will be discussed by European affairs ministers at the General Affairs Council next week in Brussels, which I will attend. I will focus, as the Taoiseach has said, on a number of external relations issues which are on the agenda of the December European Council. The Council sets general policy among the leaders to the European institutions. I know it is right and proper for people to raise the issue of Brexit and the protocol but they are dealt with every single day of the week at other levels of the European Union. I suspect it would come to the leaders if there was a conclusion to the negotiations and, indeed, if there was a major problem. It is a feature rather than a flaw of the process that neither Brexit nor the protocol is on the agenda. Many people within the European system and our system are dealing with that issue on a regular basis.

Some of the other external relations issues mentioned here today are similar, including the Israel-Palestine issue, in that they have been raised by Ireland on numerous occasions. I reject some of the language that has been used in this House about Israel but I am not saying there are no problems there. However, those issues and problems have been raised by Irish Ministers, including the Minister, Deputy Coveney, at the UN and the Foreign Affairs Council.

Deputy Ó Cathasaigh mentioned the Horn of Africa and he is right to do so. It has also been discussed by ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council and the European Council. The issue of Ethiopia was discussed by foreign ministers most recently in October.

As the Taoiseach said, EU leaders will have a strategic discussion on relations with the southern neighbourhood. EU co-operation with the southern neighbourhood takes place in the framework of European neighbourhood policies and comprises ten partner countries around the Mediterranean. It is a timely discussion. In February 2021, the EU launched the new agenda for the Mediterranean. The agenda focuses on five policy areas: human development; good governance; the rule of law; resilience; prosperity and digital transition; and peace and security. Migration, as Deputy Connolly has rightly mentioned, is on the agenda, as is mobility, the green transition, climate resilience and energy. Thematic priorities for 2022 included food security and energy, in light of the regional impact of the war in Ukraine, and the need for an accelerated green energy transition. The agenda also provides for the EU to use all tools at its disposal to bring operational and financial support to southern partners in the area of migration and mobility, with the strengthening of migration and asylum governance, including border management capacity, as key elements. EU financing for the agenda is drawn from the neighbourhood development instrument and an indicative amount of €7 billion is earmarked for 2021 to 2027.

Ireland recognises that supporting a stable, prosperous and democratic southern neighbourhood is in all of our interests. For that reason, it is committed to working with its EU and southern neighbourhood partners to address the shared challenges of the Euro-Mediterranean region. The Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, recently represented Ireland at the fourth EU southern neighbourhood ministerial meeting, which took place in Barcelona on 24 November.

Next week, I will attend the General Affairs Council which will continue the preparations for the European Council. As Deputy Howlin mentioned, we are likely to discuss Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Commission has recommended candidate status on the understanding that certain steps will be taken, including eight substantial reforms. Ireland has consistently expressed strong support for Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU perspective and the granting of candidate status, so I will support that at the General Affairs Council on behalf of Ireland. I hope that will proceed apace. That implies there is work to do with the Bosnians, which we will certainly help them with. Candidate status was recently given to Ukraine and Moldova too. Similar conditionality relating to reforms could apply to Bosnia. This would send a positive signal to the Government and people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

When leaders last met, they condemned the unjustifiable and unacceptable use of force by Iranian authorities against peaceful protestors, particularly women, and welcomed the restrictive measures the EU adopted against the perpetrators of these serious human rights violations. Leaders called on Iran to stop the violent crackdown against peaceful protestors immediately and to release those detained, with full respect for civil rights. Foreign ministers will discuss this when they meet next week at the Foreign Affairs Council. The fact that many issues raised by colleagues are not on the European Council agenda does not mean they are not on some other important European agenda where day-to-day decisions are taken. Day-to-day decisions are not made at the European Council.

Deputy Gannon said that discussion of refugees should be on the agenda for the European Council. I can confirm, with the present draft conclusions, that the issue of displaced persons from Ukraine, both within and outside Ukraine, is on the agenda as part of the discussion about Ukraine. It may not have seemed obvious. Leaders will not discuss it at the level of detail that deals with the genuine issues that Deputy Gannon raised but the issue of refugees will certainly be on the agenda.

I totally reject what Sinn Féin said when comparing us with Hungary and Poland with regard to the recovery and resilience funding. It is completely incorrect. We are not the only country not to have drawn down funding but our plan was approved some time ago. It has not led to the type of discussions that have taken place in Poland in advance of its approval and indeed in Hungary, which is a discussion it raised itself with regard to the veto issue. Our plan did not have those issues. It is absolutely wrong for Sinn Féin to make that comparison during this particular debate.

A number of colleagues have paid tribute to the Taoiseach for the work he has done at the European Council. When one sees it up close, it is an important function of the Taoiseach, because when he goes to the meeting, he is in a room on his own with no officials. Nobody else is in the room when they make those key decisions. He has shown, in the decisions that the European Council has had to make, particularly with regard to recovery and resilience funding in the five-day summit in July 2020, the issue of vaccines, and Ukraine, that he is a leader at those European Council meetings. He has an excellent rapport with his colleagues, which can be heard in what they say about him and in other comments about his positive contributions to European Council meetings. I have no doubt that his influence will continue. I pay tribute to him. Somebody will report after the next European Council meeting too.

I think I can say of everybody from Ireland, such as the Taoiseach and I, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and whoever else goes to European Council meetings, to a meeting of a Council of Ministers, or to the European Parliament, that they always have Ireland in first place on their agenda. Ireland's place is in the European Union. We have more power around that table when we share the power with all the member states. It has brought incalculable benefits to this country with regard to our economy and society. The idea that Deputy Mattie McGrath keeps positing, that there is some sort of conspiracy and that we are simply doing what we are told, is nonsense. The European Union has certainly pushed Ireland in certain directions but we should never forget what the European Union is. It is leaders and Ministers sitting around a table, the MEPs and the Commission. Irish people, including the Taoiseach, have played a huge role in driving that European Union agenda, benefiting us and benefiting the entire European Union.

See this speech in context