Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak here today. At the outset, I say well done to the Minister of State. I am following his work in Europe and he has acquitted himself very well and is representing Ireland, Inc. very well while in Brussels and other locations.

There is a whole national debate about the occupied territories Bill, and it is very important legislation that we must pass. Indeed, it was the focus of some of the debates in the presidential election and it was said flippantly in one of those debates that it could be just a symbolic Bill. It is important that it be far more than that. If the occupied territories Bill is to have full effect, there should be some European-wide approach. There are far too many countries in the European bloc stifling what really needs to happen in terms of Gaza.

Of course, they have historic hang-ups relating to how they treated the Jewish population of Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. They should have shame and historic hang-ups about that but those hang-ups should not determine how they govern and the right actions to be taken for humanity in the year 2025. It is reprehensible that some European countries continue to stifle and block things that should happen in Gaza and the Middle East to restore peace and, more important, protect humanity there. I do not think Ireland, Spain and some other countries have been found wanting but I hope there will be a common position. The more that people can see the suffering there, the more their conscience should be attuned to what should happen, rather than what happened 70 years ago and how wrong that was. Things need to be done right in the year 2025.

In terms of the war in Ukraine, I join others in condemning the ramping-up of acts of aggression against humanity in Ukraine in the past couple of days. I do not believe President Putin is a man who wants peace. He has totally played other leaders in peace negotiations for what he really wants out of them. He is hellbent on getting more territory. It seems his country, economically at least, will be able to see out this war. For that reason, it is important that the European Union bloc significantly ramps up restrictions and sanctions on Russia. Frozen financial assets and aircraft confiscated during the early days of the war should be seen as European assets that can be used to fund humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. I do not think they should be held in reserve indefinitely.

Ireland in the early days and months of the war was proud to play a major role in providing accommodation to beneficiaries of temporary protection. At one point, 3,000 or 4,000 Ukrainian refugees who had fled war in their country lived in County Clare and that was replicated throughout the country. In preparing for today's speech, I looked and discovered that Ukraine is a very broad and wide country. From the west to the east, it measures 893 km as the crow flies. From Dublin, 893 km would take in cities like Bordeaux and Genoa. If there was conflict in Genoa or Bordeaux, I would like to think Dublin would be somewhat safe and removed from that. As the war in Ukraine continues, attacks happen in various cities. It is not all in the eastern flank of the country but it is important that the European Union reflect on the temporary protection directive and refine it geographically. I do not know if someone who is 893 km from the front line requires the same level of protection within the EU bloc as someone living on the eastern flank. The war has gone on a lot longer than everyone expected and that should be a discussion point at this time.

Ireland will host the EU Presidency next year. With that comes great pride in our country. There are certain policy areas we can lead out on. I had a good meeting with the Minister of State last week to discuss some of those areas. With this also comes risk. In the past 24 hours, a Russian spy ship, as it has been dubbed, has been carrying out surveillance in British territorial waters and is tracking in a southerly direction from Scotland towards Wales. It is being tracked all the time by the British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Lasers have been used from the ship to blind the eyes of pilots trying to track it. It is important during our Presidency of the European Union that we have increased capacity to patrol our territorial waters and ensure Ireland, Inc. and the European Union are safe and defended from rogue elements and the Russian defence forces, which are quite malignant forces at the moment.

This Government is committed to ramping up investment in the Defence Forces but it is a big ask for any country to match the might of a superpower. It is important that we look at new forms of technology to track what is off our shore and how safe our undersea cables are. I ask the Minister of State to visit the centre for robotic and intelligent systems, CRIS, operating out of the University of Limerick. It is incredible what they have there. They have undersea drones capable of going 300 km or 400 km off the Irish coast. They can be manned and controlled from shore and have the ability to track gas leaks, interference, bad actors at sea and what they might be trying to do to our undersea network of cables and infrastructure. This is far cheaper than commissioning new frigates for the Naval Service or having more aircraft patrolling our skies. There is a whole space here that other countries have embraced but that we, as a nation, have not embraced yet. I recently attended a conference in the University of Limerick that brought the Commissioners of Irish Lights, the Naval Service and stakeholders from the offshore wind energy sector together in one room. I had discovered before I left that we are the laggards in Europe. Every other European Union country has a national laboratory for robotic excellence but we do not have one in Ireland. It is a relatively cheap, modern and innovative way to monitor our territorial waters and our skies and protect our country from bad actors. We need to embrace the idea of a national laboratory for robotics and all that could do.

Others have mentioned the Mercosur deal and it is something I have been following quite closely in recent months. I will give my slant on it. In the interests of transparency, I have to declare I am a suckler farmer in County Clare. Beef prices have never been as high. Many farmers would say it is not that prices have spiked but that farmers are being paid what they should rightly be paid. It is probably a stabilising of the market that we have never seen before. If the fear is unwarranted, that needs to be clarified by Government, but there is a real fear among farmers that prices will be destabilised if there is a signing-up to the Mercosur deal. I would like to know how Mercosur would be ratified. I think it requires a simple majority decision to sign up to it.

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