Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to touch briefly on the fact that in advance of the full European Council, the Agriculture and Fisheries Council will discuss the first year implementation of the CAP strategic plans based on reports from the Commission and the Presidency. I imagine the Minister for agriculture is grateful that it will be based on information to be received from his Department. If it were based on information coming from Irish farmers, stakeholders or the agriculture media, the picture painted would be quite different and would outline flaws representative of some abject failures.

The new suckler carbon efficiency programme, SCEP, in particular, is need of urgent review and overhaul. Only 20,837 farmers applied, which is notably below the 22,500 who participated in the beef data genomics programme in 2018 and well below the almost 25,000, which was the target for that year. The Minister's inability to make the scheme enticing to farmers has been compounded by an overly burdensome administration of the scheme, which has meant that 2,352 farmers have been deemed ineligible and another 858 have withdrawn their applications. That means there will be only 17,600 participating in the scheme. The Minister's failure to bring a greater cohort of our suckler farmers into the scheme undermines the sector as a whole. We know that recent developments on the revaluation of star ratings has also caused upset. It must be ensured that diligent farmers who have always done as they are told receive the support they need.

It is also important that we speak about the forestry sector at this time. While it is outside of the CAP, it is crucial to farmers and our emission reduction obligations. It continues to represent an abysmal failure by the Government under the direction of the Minister of State from the Green Party. It is likely that this year fewer than 1,700 ha will be afforested. This is against the target of 8,000 ha. It will be the lowest of any year under the Government which, in itself, has overseen the lowest rate of afforestation since the Second World War. I do not see a corner being turned despite the protestations of the Minister. We are in a situation where the Government has gone through an entire term in office and has left the forestry sector in a worse condition than when it arrived. I would appreciate it if, on his return from Brussels, the Taoiseach would speak to how our European partners view these failures while, at the same time, often lecture farmers.

Depending on discussions at the Justice and Home Affairs Council, I hope to welcome the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights. We in Ireland know the importance of the convention as well as anybody, as it underpins the Good Friday Agreement. With that in mind, I invite the Taoiseach, ahead of the Council meeting, to reflect not only on the importance of the convention itself but on our responsibilities to hold ourselves and others to it.

As members of the Taoiseach's Cabinet go to Brussels to progress the accession of the European Union to the convention, I remind us all that Ireland has obligations to our citizens as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements. We know our citizens are seeing their rights eroded by the Tory Government's callous and cruel so-called legacy Bill. Before strengthening, welcoming and celebrating the strengthening of human rights at a European level, we have to ensure that we are seen to take action when those rights are being undermined. I urge the Government again to take an interstate case against the British Government in defence of the rights of citizens.

The engagement with the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs will be an important opportunity ahead of the winter to take stock of the situation in that country and the assistance it continues to require. Ukrainian civilians face a very real threat of freezing to death, we are told, this winter as a result of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure. The Ukrainian Ambassador set out very starkly that this will very much turn on the availability of an adequate supply of the required components to repair infrastructure. I appeal to the Taoiseach to engage with the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs and his European counterparts at this meeting to ensure that Ireland and all member states do all in their power to ensure that Ukraine is adequately supplied to the best of our abilities.

Equally, it will be crucial that we begin to see real progress being made towards the establishment of the European fund that will contribute to the rebuilding of Ukraine post war. We all know who the aggressor is in this war. We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine and we again utterly condemn the Russian invasion and that country's ongoing aggression. President Zelenskyy's own ten-point peace plan highlights the crucial place that Ukraine holds in the European family, but particularly so in terms of its security being our security, and with regard to energy and food security. This will, therefore, be a crucial investment on the part of European nations, that will not just stand as an aid to a neighbour in need, but will, if done right, pay dividends to each and every partner of Ukraine for years to come.

I have to note with concern that yet another set of Foreign Affairs Council and General Council meetings are passing without any consideration, it appears, being given to the conflicts or humanitarian crises in Africa. The ongoing conflicts and forced displacements in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular, cannot be ignored because of other competing challenges. I appeal to the Taoiseach to request that these issues be put on the agenda of the first Council meeting in the new year to, at the very least, facilitate an exchange of views as to how the EU and member states may be able to play a constructive role in resolving these conflicts or, again at the very least, alleviating the humanitarian crises in these countries.

The Taoiseach will attend the European Council meeting at a pivotal, dangerous and worrying time in Palestine. Having absolutely destroyed northern Gaza, and massacred thousands of Palestinians, including thousands of children, Israel has followed a week's respite with an unjustified and unjustifiable intensification of its assault on southern Gaza. Palestinians have been pushed into an area that is one-third of the entire Gaza Strip. Those who are being forced to evacuate have, literally, no safe place to go. They have no food, no water and no safety. Their fear just cannot be comprehended. We are witnessing a humanitarian disaster. It is happening in front of our eyes, and it is happening because Israel, which is acting as if international law does not exist, does not feel sufficient pressure from the international community. It acts with impunity because it is allowed to do so and it is the innocent people of Palestine who pay a horrendous price.

The Taoiseach has used the words "disproportionate" and "counterproductive" to describe the bombardment of Gaza and the slaughter of civilians and children. He has condemned the actions of Israel, and I welcome this. Ireland has been clear in articulating the need for a full and permanent ceasefire. This is, it must be said, in stark contrast to many EU governments, which have been ambivalent, at best, and, at worst, have given cover to Israeli war crimes. The actions of the President of the European Commission have been rightly criticised in Ireland. I suggest the Taoiseach should tell European leaders who refuse to stand up for the rights of Palestine that they are undermining the credibility of the European Union to act as a voice for peace, human rights and conflict resolution in other parts of the world. He should tell them that Europe needs to take action. He should also tell them that if they will not take action, Ireland will.

We cannot have preferential trading, economic and diplomatic relationships with a state that shows blatant disregard for innocent civilian lives. By doing so, we could become complicit in Israel's aggression. The Taoiseach's defeatist response, as I would describe it, is that there is not one thing we can do to secure a ceasefire. By this logic, no Government would ever respond to any breach of international law. The purpose of trade, economic, political and diplomatic responses is to, first, send a message, but, second, to lead the way for others to follow. This is how we stand up to bullies and this is how it must stand up to Israel.

In terms of this European Council meeting, Ireland must be clear. We have seen reports that have indicated that France, for example, has suggested that sanctions be imposed on Israeli settlers who have targeted Palestinians in the West Bank. Since 7 October, at least 256 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, with the total amounting to 464 since the beginning of this year. Some 822 people, including 313 children, have been forcibly displaced. I urge the Taoiseach to support sanctions being introduced. I also urge him to go further and advocate that sanctions be introduced against anyone found to be arming those settlers or supporting them as they destroy water infrastructure, evict civilians from their homes or, indeed, in some instances, facilitate their murder. This is an area where the European Union is obliged to take action, with the Israeli Parliament having only recently approved funding for more illegal settlements.

We must also challenge the position of the Commission in respect of aid going to Palestinian organisations. A review of this aid concluded that safeguards are working well, yet the European Commission has chosen to burden Palestinian NGOs with administrative red tape for no other purpose, as I would see it, but to circumvent the will of member states, including Ireland. This must be vigorously challenged by our Government.

See this speech in context