Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On CETA, a number of us across all parties have an issue in respect of the investment court system. We have seen in other countries that there has been a chilling effect in those sort of scenarios where a Legislature can leave itself open to actions by major industries if it were to change the laws to its own benefit. There is a bit more complexity to the issue around CETA. I am not sure it is necessarily going to benefit us in that particular aspect.

There has been considerable conversation around Palestine. We know the work we can do here, for example in respect of the war bonds Deputy Boyd Barrett spoke about or in following through on a proper, full-scale occupied territories Bill. We know that the genocide is back in action to some degree, which is down to Benjamin Netanyahu and his colleagues in a really right-wing Government, with the support of the American Administration. I get that people in Europe come from a different place on this. However we have seen no movement whatsoever on the EU-Israel association agreement and the human rights conditions that are meant to be within it. Has there been any movement whatsoever on that?

On the conversation that is happening across Europe about further militarisation, I understand this is different in Baltic states and so on. Has there been any pressure on the Irish Government in respect of how we would spend money if there were increased spending? We all know there has been a deficit in spending as regards the Defence Forces, and that we need to ensure we have capacity as regards everything from radar through to hybrid attacks and cyberattacks, which we are all open to now. On the issue of tariffs and the dangers that are coming from America, has there been any initial agreement on how we and Europe will try to tackle that issue? We need to make sure we do it from the point of view of best supporting our own industries.

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