Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have to be very careful about that presentation by the Deputy. Somebody asking somebody to investigate somebody for something is a bit of a stretch. The President of the European Commission is not in any way, shape or form what the Deputy portrayed at all. It is important that we share the process with people in the country because there was a lot of misinformation around it during the European elections. The process for electing a President of the European Commission is as follows. The European Council will nominate a name to the European Parliament. I am a member of the European Council, which will nominate a person. We will begin our discussions on that in the coming days. It probably will not conclude until the end of the month or thereabouts. The name of the nominee will then go to the European Parliament, where there is then a ballot in favour or against the candidates based on their credentials. That is the process. The role of an MEP only begins when the member states of the European Union, through the European Council, agree on a name to put forward. That is the first thing.

President von der Leyen was put forward as the lead candidate for the party that has won the most votes and seats in the European Parliament. Democracy does matter. Often, our citizens feel there is democratic deficit between institutions. President von der Leyen was put forward as the lead candidate, not just in Ireland. I am not talking about Ireland specifically; right across the European Union the EPP won the most seats in the European Parliament. That is where the situation currently stands. The process is that the European Council will now consider what are called the top posts, or the four jobs, which are the foreign representative, the President of the Commission, the President of the Parliament and the President of the Council. A variety of institutions will consider those posts in the days and weeks ahead.

I read a statement to the House and spoke to the President of Israel after that. We had a firm conversation where we shared our views. We obviously have a very different view from Israel's. I conveyed very clearly the Irish view. I made the point that Israel isolating itself from the world is not a good position for Israel to be in. It is not a good position at all. We need to see a ceasefire. To the specific question on where the ceasefire plan stands, which was raised by a few Deputies, there are reasons for optimism. I note the comments of Hamas today and the work of the Egyptian Government that is going on in that regard. The Government, the Tánaiste and I have called for an acceptance of that ceasefire. We did that because while there is no such thing as a perfect plan, this plan stops the violence, killing and war crimes. It allows a situation where process and dialogue can be brought about. That is the way conflict is resolved.

On Deputy Murphy's point, I condemn what he outlined the strongest possible terms, as any right-thinking person might. I want to see all the hostages released unconditionally, as I presume everyone in the House does. Everybody wants to see the hostages released unconditionally but the constant targeting of civilians, including children, is utterly horrific. There has to be accountability for any potential war crimes that have been committed. It is not for me, on the floor of the Dáil, to decide who has or has not committed a war crime. The structures to do that are clear and are there through the International Court of Justice. Ireland fully supports the work of the court. The most important thing that should happen now is a cessation of the violence. This has to include an immediate ceasefire, unhindered and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid and the unconditional release of all the hostages. I met the soon-to-be Palestinian ambassador last week. It was the first time a Palestinian ambassador had been in the Taoiseach's office, which, again, is a statement on what recognition means. She outlined to me in the most horrifying terms the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe. The world does not yet fully comprehend, despite what we see on our TV screens, how horrific the humanitarian situation is.

On my conversation with the President of Türkiye, I believe he and his Government want to see closer relations with the European Union. As the Deputy rightly said, any membership of the European Union has to be based on criteria. That involves countries undertaking a programme of reform. Where it stands now is with the April conclusions of the European Council, where we agreed to ask teams to engage with and recommence discussions with Türkiye. That is an important step. Türkiye has played an important role in grain agreements and so on to keep food supplies flowing through Ukraine. It is absolutely in the European Union's interest to have a good close relationship with Türkiye. If a country wishes to become a member of the European Union, it involves that country carrying out significant reforms. However, my conversation with President Erdoğan was largely around the situation in the Middle East.

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