Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for the opportunity to contribute to the statements on the European Council meeting which took place between 29 and 30 June. It was disappointing to see that these meetings were once again dominated by Ukraine, with the biggest crisis facing our planet and our very existence receiving only a fraction of the attention, labelled under "other items".

It is also disappointing to see that the European Council has welcomed the decision to increase further the financial ceiling of the deceivingly named European Peace Facility by €3.5 billion. When commenting on the previous European Council meeting in April, I voiced my concerns about and opposition to the funding that this so-called peace facility provides. At that time it had aimed to provide 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition within the next 12 months, as well as missiles. Now we are looking to increase that funding to deliver even more ammunition. How can we justify doing this in the name of peace? How can we demonise those advocating for peace talks and a ceasefire while at the same time supporting the provision of artillery through a so-called peace facility? Fuelling war is not proactive; it is counterproductive. We should be nurturing peace, not feeding warfare.

Ireland has not only allowed this to happen but we have also allowed our long-standing policy of neutrality to be completely undermined by the undemocratic public forum that was recently held. That forum did not represent an open debate on international security policy, as the Minister, Deputy Micheál Martin, stated it would. Each topic was completely dominated by a selected panel of speakers rather than the views of the audience. As well as that, the panels were completely biased. It was clear the majority of panellists were opposed to our current policy of neutrality and that there was a complete lack of voices from those involved in humanitarian work or peacebuilding, despite our island's unique expertise on peacebuilding. There was also no fact-checking of any misinformation presented by the panellists. It is for those reasons that I believe any recommendations that emerge from the forum are completely illegitimate.

I strongly encourage everyone to watch the Afri peace documentary "A Force For Good? Reflections On Irish Neutrality", which addresses the importance of our neutrality, as well as the implications of NATO and militarism. What strikes me most is that the public forum and the recent European Council meetings are completely dominated by talks of security and defence, yet each has failed to mention that the greatest threat to our collective security is the climate and biodiversity crisis we face. That is the most pressing issue of our lifetime, and not only are we failing to prioritise it, we are actually failing to recognise it at all.

We are also failing to recognise the damage that conflict causes to the environment. Conflict contributes massively to climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. Wars drive emissions and biodiversity loss. It is not just our policy on neutrality that we should be considering here. Our involvement in armed conflict will contribute very negatively to the environment as well. It is very clear that compromising our neutrality will do far more harm than good to us and to the world and society as a whole.

On that note I welcome the fact that MEPs voted to pass the nature restoration law a few hours ago. We are in a dire situation, facing a huge biodiversity crisis. That law is needed to address the dramatic loss of species, which is a severe threat to our food security. Again, I see that the European Council meetings referred to the threat Russia poses to food security, yet there was no mention of the biodiversity crisis, which is a far bigger threat all round. I am glad the nature restoration law has been passed by the European Parliament. However, I acknowledge that it is much weaker than it was when it was first proposed, which is disappointing. We can thank Fine Gael amendments for that. I echo Luke 'Ming' Flanagan's calls to ensure a publicly funded nature restoration fund to ensure a just transition and proper implementation of the law. Because the law itself is flexible, what is really important now is that the Irish Government ensures fair, just and proper implementation. I will keep an eye on how it goes about that.

Another extremely important issue that seems to have been completely left out of the European Council meetings is the recent drownings of migrant boats in European waters. I purposely say "left out" because there is no way that could have been simply overlooked or forgotten, given the fact that the week before the meetings occurred, hundreds died off the coast of Greece after European authorities were made aware of an overcrowded and unseaworthy vessel and decided not to launch a rescue operation. The European Council's silence on this issue is deafening and intentional, making it even worse. It follows the recent trend of the EU moving policy and divesting funding away from humanitarian search and rescue and towards surveillance and detention of migrants.

Those are the issues on which the Council meetings should have focused. We need to stop allowing these meetings to be dominated by military and defence over our climate and human rights obligations. Unfortunately, however, with this Government, Ireland will have no voice to add in that regard because it will continue with the obsequious ways we are going about our business, pretending we want to keep our neutrality intact while actually it wants to get on the war bandwagon with the rest of Europe. That is a sad reflection on Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party.

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