Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I thank the Minister of State for taking this very important debate. I was delighted to see him appointed as Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs. He has carried out the role well in the past. He is holding the role at a very important juncture in Europe's history, but also when we are preparing for Ireland's EU Presidency and when we host the European Political Community in the latter half of 2026.

In response to Deputy Gannon's remark about hearing the voices at the White House and so on, I say that we as a party have always believed in multilateralism and talking to people, even those we disagree with. At least this Government is willing to show up, unlike the "Social Media Democrats", who much prefer to get their little clip on TikTok rather than engaging in meaningful discussion.

Europe is a concept and a reality based on the twin pillars of peace and prosperity. Those twin aims have always underpinned the work of the European Union. The values we hold dear about democracy, human rights and the rule of law always must underpin the work of the EU.

In our commitment to multilateralism, we should continue to advocate for those both internally within the European Union and indeed externally. The agenda at the European Council meeting was obviously a quite heavy one. I will refer first to the competitiveness agenda because the economic agenda cannot be divorced from the security agenda and we cannot use the need for security to forget about the importance of also investing in Europe's competitiveness. I am somewhat concerned at the slow pace of the reforms with regard to competition. There is a commitment again and the statement from the meeting last week reaffirmed the EU's commitment to the creation of a capital market's union. We should see investments and saving flowing across Europe. The reality is that is not the case. It is critical in the context of the green deal and the digital agenda that a capital market's union is put in place. However, this is not just some nebulous concept. This is also about being able to have small businesses and also for consumers to see a much more open market in areas like banking, financial services, insurance and pension products. There is no reason as to why an Irish consumer cannot be able to shop around and look to a Belgian pension provider, a Dutch insurer or a Czech financial services provider if they can offer a better deal. Equally, Irish companies should be able to compete and offer good deals to consumers right across Europe.

Europe's competitiveness will also depend on how we respond to the AI revolution and the rapid changes of technology that we are now experiencing. Europe's success in that will depend very much on skills. I am worried for instance that it was stated within the Draghi report that even still 42% of Europeans lack basic digital skills. It is absolutely critical at a European level, but also at a national level here, that we invest in digital and media literacy to a far greater extent and indeed that we ensure every Irish person and every European has access to AI technical and literacy skills. This has to be a top priority. While the Government has rightly appointed a Minister of State with responsibility for AI, it is not just the responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, or the Department of enterprise. This has to be a whole-of-government approach. Indeed, the Department of enterprise has been charged with a campaign around digital and AI adoption among micro and SMEs and we are not seeing any particular urgency to that. Therefore, as part of both Ireland's and Europe's competitiveness agenda, we need to move more quickly.

Of course, the main talking point at the meeting was around Ukraine and around Europe's security. We reiterated our support for democracy, for respect and for sovereign borders and showed our solidarity with the people of Ukraine. It is not just at this time that it is important to show our solidarity with Ukraine but also to those many neighbours of Russia who are increasingly worried by the threat of Vladimir Putin. We should be showing to Ukrainians now at their hour of need the same solidarity that was shown to us by Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and by Poland during the time of Brexit. Obviously, this is not just around defence matters. This relates as well to issues around energy security and indeed global logistics, which is vital for countries operating in and out of Ireland.

I listened to some of the debate. As we know, Government backbenchers were not allowed contribute to the Social Democrats debate earlier on the question of the triple lock. However, I am really concerned that there are some in Irish politics who would seem to be happier writing love letters to the President of Iran than necessarily dealing with what has to be the greatest geopolitical threat facing Europe in at least 80 years. We know the actions of Russia in particular are constituting a major threat not just to other European countries but to this country as well. Russian military intelligence is engaging in shadow attacks against government and infrastructure. We know about the fact that there have been Russian vessels operating in Irish waters. The Yantar had to be escorted out of Irish waters last year. We need to take seriously the critical pieces of infrastructure that are located on Irish territory and in Irish waters. We now know, for instance, that there are 16 key cables that operate between North America and Europe that run through Irish waters. We have seen what the Russians have done with cables in the Baltic Sea and with Nord Stream the hybrid attacks it has engaged in against critical infrastructure in Europe. Therefore, it is right that Europe takes security issues very seriously. If a hybrid attack happens on this country or if somebody with whom Vladimir Putin has an issue ends up being poisoned on Irish soil, if Members of this House have not taken strong enough action, questions will be asked. It should not be forgotten that the biggest terrorist attack in recent years on this country was the attack on the Health Service Executive. The reason I call it a terrorist attack is because people's lives were seriously disrupted as a result of it.

Will the Minister of State continue to raise the very important issues to Ireland around security and defence? This is about what is in our own interest. It is about protecting our own critical infrastructure and our own citizens here and abroad but also showing solidarity with our European friends and colleagues in the spirit of defending those values that are critically important. We should not make any apologies for standing up at a global level and saying we will stand for the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

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