Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to say a few words on the consultative forum on international security policy now that it has concluded. Certainly, I found the discussions and debates very interesting and informative. Thankfully, those who tried to disrupt it did not succeed and the wider public got a chance to consider the issues that now must be addressed. In fact, you would have to wonder what all the fuss was about.

I spoke in the Dáil debate on the forum, held on 18 May last, and made the following points. There are clearly new and emerging threats to our security and defence. It would have been negligent and irresponsible of our Government not to consider these threats. There should be no question of us joining NATO. The EU's Common Security and Defence Policy is not a stepping stone to a European army. We should continue our involvement in permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, missions and the NATO-led Partnership for Peace. Both these organisations may be able to play a role in safeguarding underseas pipelines and telecommunications cables in the future. Central to our foreign policy should be peacekeeping, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, arms control, nuclear disarmament and the tackling of global hunger. Our long colonial past and our ability to deploy soft power allows Ireland to exercise a positive neutrality. Finally, the triple lock has to go. We cannot have authoritarian regimes vetoing our plans to take part in overseas missions.

I was interested in the Taoiseach's comments to the effect that our non-membership of NATO helped us greatly helped us greatly in securing a seat on the UN Security Council. Therefore, we can still play an active role in all those areas I mentioned because we are not a member of NATO.

That is something we should be conscious of.

The Taoiseach said migration will be raised at the European Council meeting. Migration is now a major challenge for the EU and the wider world. We witnessed an appalling tragedy off the coast of Greece recently when a packed fishing vessel capsized. This resulted in hundreds of migrants drowning. We are told that nine Egyptian men have been arrested and that those on board may have paid up to $4,500 each for their passage. It is now estimated that more than 27,000 people have drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to make the journey to the EU.

We heard recently about the EU voluntary solidarity packed agreed in 2022. The aim of the pact is to redistribute migrants from the southern EU states, namely, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Italy and Spain. In solidarity with these states, we committed to taking 350 asylum seekers and international protection applicants. However, because the situation changed significantly since then we have agreed instead to pay €1.5 million in lieu. That is understandable as Ireland is accommodating over 86,500 refugees and asylum seekers at this time. This includes 65,600 Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection and 20,900 international protection applicants. This is proving challenging. The war in the Ukraine has displaced 16 million people. The migration crisis is only going to get worse due to the ongoing conflicts in the world and of course climate change.

I welcome the agreement reached recently by EU justice ministers to modernise the union’s approach to asylum and migration. We are told the system will now be fairer, more efficient and more sustainable and that it will be streamlined and made uniform across EU states. The tackling of criminal gangs must be central to this new regime. I am not sure whether it will involve arrangements with some of the countries of origin, such as, for example, Tunisia. These deals will need to be fully transparent and based on sound principles, given that some of these countries have authoritarian regimes in place. The main point I wish to make is that we need to substantially increase the legal pathways into the EU. We have a skills shortage in Ireland. Surely we can match our critical skills shortage with the needs of migrants and asylum seekers fleeing war, prosecution and climate disasters? We can take Georgia as an example. Huge numbers of Georgians are arriving here and claiming international protection, yet many of them are in fact economic migrants seeking employment in the building and construction industry. Surely we can come up with a legal pathway for these Europeans trying to find employment and accommodation in this country? I will leave that there for the moment.

Turning to the war in Ukraine, what are we to make events in Russia over the weekend with the attempted coup by Yevgeny Prigozhin of the Wagner Group? The hope must be that these developments will weaken Putin and give the Ukrainians a much-needed break. As we know, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has commenced and the bloody war continues. I welcome the announcement agreement has been reached by the EU on the 11th round of sanctions. It seems the implementation of previous sanctions announced to date was proving to be problematic and that they were being circumvented in some cases. The 11th round of sanctions is an attempt to deal with this problem. We hope they will be effective.

I also raise again the threats to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility. We have seen the destruction caused by the blowing up of the Kakhovka dam. The dam facilitated the provision of cooling water to the plant and there is certainly the possibility the plant itself could be weaponised. The facility at Zaporizhzhia is Europe’s biggest atomic power plant. It must be protected to avoid an environmental catastrophe. It is in Russian-controlled territory. All sides must allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to do whatever it takes to ensure the plant is safeguarded.

Ireland was represented at the Ukraine recovery conference in London last week by the Tánaiste. Serious efforts must now be made to use frozen Russian assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. At an EU level, over €200 million worth of assets of the Central Bank of Russia have been seized and another €30 billion worth of private assets of Russian oligarchs have been immobilised. There is no doubt that this is a complex issue, but I look forward to seeing the Commission’s proposals in this regard as soon as possible. The World Bank has estimates that the cost of Ukrainian reconstruction could be €1 trillion or more. At the conference last week, the EU committed €50 billion to rebuild Ukraine and fund public services. I welcome that. Private donors are also committing hard cash to this endeavour. Whatever way one looks at it, there is a long road ahead and the sooner this war is over the better for everyone. The EU must also continue to help Ukraine in its desire to join the EU by assisting it to meet the criteria for membership and, as I said, by reconstructing the country.

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