Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will start with Deputy Ó Murchú. I thank him for raising the issue of Lough Neagh. Before we talk about cross-Border shared island and all-island units, I was delighted to be in Omeath at a project that I know the Deputy and John O'Dowd, Minister for Infrastructure of the Northern Ireland Executive, visited recently. I believe the Narrow Water bridge project is going to be transformational for the north east of the island. I am really looking forward to seeing that under way.

The Deputy quite rightly raised the issue of Lough Neagh, as did Deputy Paul Murphy and, yes, I have discussed this with the First Minister and deputy First Minister. It was also discussed at the most recent North-South Ministerial Council, which I attended as a Minister rather than as Taoiseach, and we did ask that Departments on both parts of the island would work together in this regard. I agree it is an environmental catastrophe we are seeing at Lough Neagh. As Deputy Murphy said, it is one that does not respect any border. We have asked. The First Minister, the deputy First Minister and I did speak about it when I was last in Stormont. I expect that we will get an update from our respective officials. What we are trying to look at here is whether there are areas of co-operation and collaboration we can do around this, but also more broadly around environmental matters. It simply makes sense to be working together on these issues. I note the EPA report published this morning. I heard the director of the EPA on morning radio. This is a very serious situation. The Government shares the disappointment and concern of the EPA in that regard. As Deputy Murphy said, we can point to areas where progress has been made, but there are more areas where progress has not been made and things have gotten worse. I acknowledge that. The Deputy did not mention the word "derogation", but I do not think it is a matter of choosing between improving the water quality and keeping our derogation. It is possible to do both, but we will need to keep the derogation and show we are making progress on water quality. That progress needs to be made, and that needs to happen much more quickly. Deputy Murphy referred to fertiliser and the likes. We have seen a 30% reduction in the use of chemical fertiliser over the past two years by Irish agriculture and we need to see that trend continue.

I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for raising BIPA. I very much enjoyed the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly being in County Wicklow. We were delighted to host it. I thank him for his leadership of it, along with Karen Bradley. Of course, I am not interfering in the British election at all. Regardless of the outcome of the British election, I look forward to meeting the British Prime Minister in July. I will be attending the European Political Community meeting there anyway and I hope to have an opportunity to meet whoever is the British Prime Minister. I would also hope to have an early bilateral meeting with the British Prime Minister post the general election. Of course, in any engagements I have, I will be making the points that Deputy Smith made in terms of our eagerness to continue at a senior level close political engagement with our nearest neighbours and how important that is for the future prosperity and well-being of both our islands and our peoples. The view of the Irish Government is very well-known with regard to the legacy Act.

We pulled all the normal levers, went through all the normal processes and, unfortunately, with a heavy heart, found ourselves having to lodge an interstate case against the United Kingdom with the European Court of Human Rights on 17 January. The deadline for intervention as a third party in this case expired on 2 May. A relatively large number of intended third parties have sought leave to intervene in the case and the court's decision is now awaited in that regard. The court will consult with the parties in due course with a view to fixing the procedures and the court will consider the admissibility of the Government's application in the first instance. Our view on the legacy Act is clear, consistent and in line with the views of all parties in Northern Ireland, who also oppose this Act for many of the reasons that Deputy Brendan Smith outlined.

I will not comment on industrial action. It probably strays well beyond the question. I note that there is industrial action. I note it is very important that people all look after their workforce but it is a matter outside my remit as Taoiseach in this jurisdiction.

On Deputy Cathal Crowe's point around Phoenix House, I will raise that with the Minister for integration. I need to be honest with people that as we are seeing the number of Ukrainian people in State accommodation reduce, we are reducing our footprint in terms of the amount of accommodation that we are leasing because there is a significant cost to the taxpayer here. I will raise this issue specifically, and the concerns raised to the Deputy Crowe and Councillor Griffin with regard to Phoenix House as well.

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