Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I condemn this week's attacks on Ukraine by Russia and particularly the deaths of civilians, including children. I extend my solidarity and that of the Social Democrats to all those affected by these latest acts in Russia's illegal war of aggression. Now more than ever, in particular in advance of our Presidency of the EU next year, it is crucial that Ireland assert itself at EU level on the issues we hold dear. Being a good European or member state does not mean being an uncritical one. That often gets lost in the discourse, but it is particularly important when we want to fight for a European Union that supports social cohesion, protects citizens from big industry and big tech harms and fulfils its original promise of being a peace project. Ireland can play a powerful role in making Europe stand up for these principles and I have serious concerns that when it comes to defence, corporate regulation, the Mercosur trade agreement and the erosion of a social Europe, we are not raising our voice to an adequate volume. We cannot go with the flow on these issues if we want a Europe that works for everyone.

In particular, I raise the status of any discussions at EU Council level on the digital omnibus and Ireland's position on it. A very serious piece of business that has recently passed through the European Parliament is the omnibus package on the corporate sustainability due diligence directive, on which Fine Gael MEPs allied with the far right to row back laws that guaranteed that slavery, child labour and environmental crimes would be kept out of our supply chains. In response to my party colleague Senator Stephenson, a commitment was made in the Seanad by the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, that the Irish Government would defend the four pillars of the directive, which are due diligence duty, an EU-wide civil liability regime, climate transition plan implementation and stakeholder engagement. It is unfortunate that he did not communicate the Government's position to his party colleagues in Europe. Now we have a potential omnibus deregulation package that, from the leaked draft, looks as though it is poised to dismantle data protection rules and the AI Act in a similar way, at a time when ordinary people want us to protect their data and to protect them from AI harms. Have the Minister of State and his colleagues raised this at EU Council level? Will the Irish Government defend us from further deregulation of big tech?

It has become clear in recent weeks that the Commission is out of its depth when it comes to understanding AI and is parroting industry lines that have no basis in reality. More than 200 scholars and scientists were so concerned about the rhetoric of the President of the Commission that they asked President von der Leyen to retract her comments. We cannot allow the tail to wag the dog on regulation of technology that can pose a threat to our democracies, health, communities, livelihoods and ability to trust the images and words put in front of us. If Ireland wants to be a leader in this space, we must defend the rights of our citizens at EU Council level.

On the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, we need to see a system that delivers for member states, protects our future and ensures EU funding and support is directed at things that improve people's lives and support regional development and the cohesion of our societies. Particularly concerning are the plans for this MFF to be used to build a European defence union. This is not bluster or exaggeration; it is the exact wording from the Commission. While we talk about foreign affairs and defence being national competences, we sit idly by as EU funds, which Ireland contributes to, will spend five times more on defence, including unprecedented investment in the arms industry. Irish taxpayer money will be used to give handouts to arms manufacturers. While arms manufacturers can sell their goods to European countries, they also supply Israel and many other global actors with their weapons of war.

I am deeply concerned that we are seeing the EU come closer and closer to a defence union and that the narrowing of the definition of neutrality by this Government is serving the express purpose of sleepwalking the Irish people into exactly that. This is against the express will of the Irish people. I understand that other countries in Europe have different views on defence and neutrality from ours. That is why there are defence organisations for them, which Ireland is not a part of. This is even more of a reason that we need the Irish Government to resist the shift of the European Union into a defence union. I want to know whether this Government is taking this shift seriously and is willing to stand up for a Europe that is not a defence union, which is what people wanted us to do when they voted for the Nice and Lisbon treaties.

My final point is about sanctions. A key provision in this Council meeting was the suspension of visa-free travel for particular groups or nationalities and human rights violations are cited as a possible ground for suspension. Has the Government given any thought to its use for those implicated in genocide in Gaza and those setting up and living in illegal settlements in the West Bank? Did it raise expanding the sanctions regime, particularly as the proposals brought by Ursula von der Leyen to do so are still on the table? We have seen a dragging of heels on action at EU level and it is particularly vital, first and foremost, that the EU sanctions regime be expanded beyond the approximately 100 settlers, in recognition that all settlers in the West Bank are violating international law. In the absence of that, we need to push for action using every possible lever available to us and I encourage the Irish Government to do so.

I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's answers.

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