Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about the western Balkans and accession to the European Union. I have no doubt that when the Taoiseach spoke with the leaders of North Macedonia and Montenegro in particular, he got that element of annoyance - probably more than annoyance - that they have because the whole conversation on accession has not been real for the last while. We all accept that some of that was down to the European Union. The likes of France or whatever came to the conclusion that there were huge rule of law issues. We all know the issue in relation to Hungary. It was decided that those issues needed to be settled, as they do, before wider accession would be looked at. I think that is where the conversation really was.

In fairness, the Ukrainian crisis has changed all that. When we look right across that particular area, we can see there is game play by Russia. The fact is that we have to offer people an alternative from a geopolitical point of view. That is the positive side of the European Union. We have seen a lot of the negative lately. I would like to know what conversations the Taoiseach had with leaders on the necessary moves they have to make in dealing with the rule of law issues. Did he have conversations in relation how we can facilitate them in delivering on the Copenhagen criteria?

I agree with a lot of the commentary. If we are talking about rule of law issues, the Western world has let itself down incredibly badly in relation to Gaza. As much as the language of the US has improved, we know that as we face possible further devastation in Rafah, proper pressure needs to be put on Israel. The only way to do that is for the powers that be to use their voice and, beyond that, for the powers that really be, that provide Israel with weapons, to stop doing so.

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