Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I again thank all the Deputies who contributed. Deputy Bacik spoke about the European Union membership of Ukraine. We were one of the steadfast early supporters of Ukraine's membership of the European Union, believing it would end a vacuum geopolitically, create its own implicit security for Ukraine and also enable it to be a full participant in the economic benefits and basic liberties that go with being a member of the European Union. The European Union is probably one of the safest places in which to live in the world today. It is where we have the protection of basic fundamental rights of freedom of academic autonomy, freedom of speech, a free media and so on. It is interesting that the European Union gets attacked in the House a lot but actually, jurisdiction-wise, and if we look at different parts of the world, it is probably one of the better places in which to live for most citizens. That is why it is so attractive to so many people who want to come to live in Europe. They come from all over the world, migrating from autocracies and authoritarian regimes. The Deputy is correct in saying we need to highlight more clearly the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia. That is a very shocking war crime. The repatriation of those children and reuniting them with their families has to be a core objective.

Deputy Ó Murchú raised the issue of the peace process. The US initiatives are welcome in respect of trying to engineer a peace pathway, faltering as it has been to date, between Ukraine and Russia. The UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, have been particularly active in endeavouring to move the situation on while supporting and protecting Ukraine in this entire process. I appreciate the Deputy's condemnation of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Deputy Malcolm Byrne raised the issue of Russia having a veto over whether we join or participate in peace missions. I could not agree with him more. Russia should not have a veto over a sovereign decision that Ireland should be able to take to participate in peacekeeping missions around the world, or in civil protection mechanisms. That is something the Government will deal with legislatively, which makes absolute sense given the performance of the Security Council in recent times in respect of a whole range of appalling conflicts.

On 2026, the multifinancial framework and the Common Agricultural Policy, protecting the Common Agricultural Policy by having a separate line allocation and budget for it will be key. We are awaiting proposals from the Commission. We also want to accelerate, and Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan also raised this issue, the accession of Ukraine to the European Union. Hungary is holding that up. It has paralysed many issues, including the European Peace Facility. We have had to move bilaterally to provide financial support to Ukraine. That is financial support which would ordinarily have gone through the European Peace Facility but was not facilitated by Hungary because of its obstructionist tactics in respect of that facility and the beginning of the process of facilitating a pathway to European Union membership. There are real challenges within the European Union regarding Hungary's behaviour to date on quite a number of these issues. It is something that needs to be resolved as quickly as possible involving all member states.

Deputy Murphy raised the issue of Russia's criminal enterprise in its invasion of Ukraine and then moved quickly to the US. The US did not invade Ukraine and did not start this war. The US has supported Ukraine quite extensively - more than anybody else. Without US support, it is quite clear that Russia's criminal enterprise would, to all intents and purposes, have worked. Russia would be in control of the entirety of Ukraine by now if it was not for US intervention and the support of other European countries, such as France, the United Kingdom and others, for example Denmark, which have made very significant contributions to the Ukrainian military enterprise. The Deputy also made the point, and I think used the phrase, that Europe was deliberately using military expenditure to suspend fiscal rules. That is not a correct definition or characterisation of what has occurred. Many member states on the eastern flank, particularly the Baltics, feel an existential threat from Russia. Financially and fiscally, they are not as strong as others. They feel they need supports and cannot defend themselves, or strengthen their military and defensive capability, without having military expenditure by those countries taken out of the fiscal rule framework. That is the motivation. It is a realistic-----

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