Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the agenda of the European Council meeting tomorrow and on Friday. It is appropriate that Ukraine is very prominent on the agenda, for obvious reasons. I welcome the Taoiseach's comments and his condemnation of the death of Alexei Navalny. It was completely unacceptable, particularly in advance of the Russian elections. It is very obvious what happened. I welcome the fact that there will be an international investigation but neither I nor any reasonable person would be very hopeful about the outcome. It is very obvious what happened. It reminds us of how lucky we are to be living in such a free and democratic country, and long may that continue.

I welcome the fact that secondary sanctions are being prepared against three other countries - Belarus, North Korea and Iran. This is completely appropriate. These countries are providing a lot of weapons to the Russian dictator and they should be sanctioned as a result. In return, they are getting assistance with their nuclear and satellite technology programmes. I remember the Iranian ambassador appeared before the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence about 18 months ago and swore blindly that Iran was providing no munitions to the Russian Federation. We can see that this was a complete lie.

I welcome the use of immobilised Russian financial assets for the repair and recovery of Ukraine. That is completely appropriate. I know there are concerns about the second- and third-order effects from a monetary stability point of view but if you want to weigh up the second- and third-order effects of inaction, you will see that they are far more serious. The sooner those immobilised assets are put to good use, the better off we will all be.

Regarding the European defence industry strategy, as the Taoiseach pointed, it is a dirty word in Ireland. If this country wants to have a defence force, and I believe it does, we have to arm it. We have two options. We can buy weapons and armoured vehicles for our peacekeeping operations from abroad or make the stuff ourselves. It is not unusual for the likes of Switzerland and Austria to have a very well-developed industrial base from a military point of view so we should not be scared of these words. Nobody has yet mentioned that it is part of the all-island agenda. Belfast has a lot of heavy industry such as Harland and Wolff. It has over 1,200 workers and makes, maintains and refits naval ships. Thales is another company in Belfast with 800 workers. It made the NLAW anti-tank rocket, which literally stopped the Russian army in its tracks in the early stages of the war. If we think we have a Ukrainian refugee issue now, I can only imagine how bad it would have been had the Russian army run all the way up to the Polish border or beyond. Something to bear in mind is the fact that there is a significant military industrial base in the Six Counties and if we are looking towards some kind of reunification over the next decade or so, that is something we must factor in and not run away from.

I welcome the Taoiseach's balanced comments on the situation in the Middle East because it is very clear that Hamas has as little interest in a peaceful resolution to this as the current Israeli Government and I use the phrase "current Israeli Government" very carefully. I welcome political and diplomatic developments stateside over the past 72 hours. It is entirely correct that the majority leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, called for an Israeli election. I think it is entirely appropriate. One of the reasons the conflict has dragged on for so long is that certain people in the Knesset do not want an Israeli general election. We should bear that in mind. I welcome the fact that there was a phone call between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu and that a delegation from Israel will travel to Washington over the next few days to look at alternatives to a Rafah ground offensive. Priority number one is preventing a ground offensive in Rafah because if that goes ahead, it will turn an already horrendous situation into complete catastrophe.

In relation to humanitarian aid, I concur with the Taoiseach's comments as well. We must look at the land, sea and air options. Obviously, the land option is best. The most volume of humanitarian aid can get across that way. We must continue to apply more pressure to the Israeli Government and to the Egyptian authorities to let more aid in this way. We should also fully explore the maritime humanitarian corridor that has been tentatively established between Cyprus and Gaza.

My question for the Minister of State, and he may or may not have an answer for it, is whether Ireland intends to participate in this humanitarian maritime corridor from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Gaza. If we can do so, in what capacity would we be doing this? From the perspective of an airdrop, I welcome that some parachuted food is still going into Gaza. A few weeks ago, there was talk of Ireland contributing in some way in this regard. It was whether we could fly out some aid and leave it on a runway in Jordan, from where some other nation could parachute it into Gaza for us. Where are we with this proposal? Are there any plans for Ireland to participate in this way? In summary, I welcome the opportunity to contribute. I wish the members of the Irish delegation well and look forward to hearing of their discussions on their return.

See this speech in context