John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On that last point actually, nobody has worked harder in this House than my colleague, the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, in developing relationships with congresspeople at state level and leveraging the Irish connection with literally hundreds of congresspeople. That is a significant network and a significant opportunity for lobbying for our interests.

I welcome the Minister and thank him for his statement and update to the Dáil. In the context of our neutrality I agree that he re-emphasises the fact that Ireland can enhance our defence capabilities while maintaining military neutrality. An issue we were talking about recently is that enhancing defence capability in years gone by, would probably have connoted the notion of increased and enhanced weaponry and more people carrying guns whereas, for me and for most informed Irish people, it means creating the abilities, capacities and intelligence to defend ourselves against for example cyberattackers. I was on the Oireachtas health committee when the cyberattack on the HSE happened, as was Deputy Crowe. It had more impact and used up more time and resources of the HSE than Covid did at the time. We were told that. It still has ongoing consequences.

I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach has expressed the desire to establish a security and defence committee in the Houses of the Oireachtas in order that we can begin a reasoned conversation about security and defence. It does not mean building up military capacity and that that necessarily has to be at the expense of other programmes for Government. If you develop an expertise in helping to withstand and fend off cyberattacks, then that kind of expertise can be spread across to enhance and benefit every Department of Government. We have seen that if we cannot defend against a cyberattack then, to refer to what a previous speaker was saying, every social protection programme or every HSE programme that depends on some kind of digital platform is jeopardised and threatened as a consequence of that. Therefore, when I talk about security and defence and spending more money on it, I am talking about developing the skills, artificial intelligence skills and the other range of skills that are necessary to protect Ireland, our economic base, our waters and to protect us from the modern world of cyberattack.

Much of our debate does not reflect the reality of a changing world. Any of us who have Finnish or Swedish counterparts, friends or family connections will absolutely inform us that they are rightly on a footing and terrified but prepared, particularly in relation to the Nordic countries. We are a million miles from that, surrounded by water. However, we are part of the European Union. If the values are threatened by Hungary or Russia there will be consequences for all of us.

In regard to the expansion of the European Union, particularly in relation to Turkey, where is that at? What concerns has the Minister at the moment? No doubt Ireland would have concerns in relation to the imprisonment of a potential presidential candidate. There is a kind of quasi-democratic situation in Turkey.

As I said, for me security and defence is about enhancing our ability to defend ourselves against cyberattacks. Failure to develop a preparedness for this exposes potentially everything we do. I want to emphasise that because there is an argument that is too easy to make that if we spend money on defence then we are not spending money on poverty. However, failure to, as I said, defend ourselves and any of our programmes that have digital platforms would have consequences for every user of those programmes.

It is my view that increased spending on security also helps Ireland to protect itself from the abuses of migration systems and asylum seeking systems so that people who do seek asylum and refuge here are entitled to do so. The more enhanced information and intelligence we have in that regard the better.

A topic which I know is top of the Minister of State's agenda, as Minister of State for European Affairs, is the simplification and reduction of administrative burdens on business. This was addressed at the recent meeting at which the Commission had some things to say in that regard.

I welcome particularly the fact that the Commission and co-legislators, including the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, are called on to work towards achieving the target of reducing the cost of all administrative burdens on business by at least 25%, and by at least 35% for SMEs. The Minister of State might expand on that, if he can, in his closing remarks.

I welcome the call on the Commission to rapidly follow up with further simplification initiatives, including on industrial decarbonisation, etc., and identify ways to further simplify and consolidate existing legislation that would benefit people doing business in the member states. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could elaborate on that.

I liked the pieces in the reports that we got in terms of the discussions around the making available of European investment and savings possibilities, including enhanced possibilities for EU-wide savings and pension products so that I am not totally dependent on a pension product that is available only in Ireland. It is something I always thought the European Union was about and should be about. If I could purchase a pension product in any country across EU borders - or non-borders, obviously - I might be able to take advantage of saving schemes not only in Ireland but across the European Union. This is important. It is something I would be interested in. I am probably too old to avail of it, but anybody in their 20s and 30s would have a vested interest in it. One of the things the Commission decided was that one might be in a position to take decisive steps on this in 2026.

I would like to ask the Minister of State about something that comes to us. I wonder whether the European Union has any comment to make on scam messaging, which particularly targets vulnerable people and older people. Is there an EU-wide approach to that? I would be interested to know whether anything was discussed on that as well.

I would be interested to hear any additional comments the Minister of State might have to make in relation to Ireland’s Presidency in 2026.

Finally, I welcome the points in relation to the prevention and countering of irregular migration, as has been mentioned, and the steps that will be taken to reinforce and prevent that.

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