Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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24. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent engagements with the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez. [15157/23]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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25. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez. [15159/23]

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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26. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent engagements with the Spanish Prime Minister. [14895/23]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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27. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent engagements with the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez. [15092/23]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 to 27, inclusive, together.

I hosted the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, for a working lunch in Government Buildings on Thursday, 2 March. Ireland is currently marking 50 years of EU membership and Spain is advancing preparations for its Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of the year.

Both our countries have been transformed by our membership of the European Union. Shared EU membership has also enabled us to strengthen our bilateral ties so that the relationship between Ireland and Spain has never been stronger or more positive.

While Prime Minister Sánchez and I see each other regularly at meetings of the European Council in Brussels, his visit to Dublin allowed us to discuss in greater depth some of the challenges facing Europe and the world and how we can strengthen Irish-Spanish bilateral relations. We discussed current issues on the EU agenda, including solidarity with Ukraine as it fights off Russia’s attack, accelerating the transition to sustainable energy resources and ensuring a strong European economy into the future in the interests of our citizens.

One of the most significant achievements of the European Union is the Single Market, which is marking its 30th anniversary this year. Unlocking the full potential of the Single Market, including for services and in the digital space, is essential for Europe’s future competitiveness and prosperity. In particular, we must be ready to seize the opportunities and potential of the green transition, which means having the right framework conditions in place to bring abundant renewable energy resources to businesses and households at an affordable price.

I also took the opportunity to thank President Sánchez for Spain’s solidarity throughout the Brexit process. I briefed him on the potential of the Windsor Framework to help pave the way for the restoration of the institutions under the Good Friday Agreement and to bring about more positive relations between the EU and the UK. He briefed me on developments in relation to Gibraltar. I expressed Ireland's solidarity with Spain and our hope for a positive outcome to those negotiations. I also met President Sánchez last week at a meeting of the European Council in Brussels, and I am likely to meet him again at a Council of Europe meeting in Reykjavik in May.

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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I am very interested to hear about the issues the Taoiseach discussed with Prime Minister Sánchez. Since the UK left the EU, Ireland has lost an ally on a wide range of matters, but we have been busy forging alliances on all the various issues of the day such as the Single Market, the digital Single Market, financial rules, the rule of law, migration and agriculture to name a few. This is important given the role played by qualified majority voting. I am aware that we worked with Spain in the past on Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, reform. Spain, too, has concerns about migration and migrants crossing from Morocco to the north African enclave of Melilla. The European Commission has launched an anti-smuggling operational partnership with Morocco. In this context, has the Taoiseach discussed the proposed EU pact on migration and asylum, which was first published in 2020 with Prime Minister Sánchez? This process provides for the sharing of responsibility and solidarity. In his role as a prime minister at the European Council meeting, does the Taoiseach think that agreement on this pact is likely any time soon?

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his update on his engagement with the Spanish Prime Minister. Indeed Prime Minister Sánchez attended a Party of European Socialists party leaders' event, which I also attended, in Berlin in October. He spoke there about the Iberian social democratic model of energy price cap that he and the Portuguese Prime Minister, who is also a member of the Party of European Socialists, had implemented. In his engagement with Prime Minister Sánchez, did the Taoiseach discuss with him that model of price cap on energy, which has been successfully implemented in Spain and Portugal to address rising energy costs and help people get through a cost-of-living crisis?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is a fair question. He will not agree with the answer but I will give him one: there are differences. Ukraine, for a start, is a European country. It is a EU candidate country. It is an established recognised independent state, recognised by Ireland. It is a democratic state. It is one that upholds the human rights of its citizens. Also, Russia's expansion and imperialism does not just threaten Ukraine. It threatens Moldova and the Baltic states. President Putin has been very clear that he laments the fall of the USSR and that does not just threaten Ukraine. It threatens other parts of Europe too. While there are parallels with the situation in Palestine, it is not the exact same. The history is different. Israel was established by UN mandate. The Arab state that was also established by UN mandate was rejected by other Arabs and other Arab states. Of course, we should never forget that refugees went in both directions. It is terrible what happened to Palestinians in the Nakba being thrown out of their homes and forced to become refugees in surrounding countries and on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. But we should never forget that massive Jewish populations in Egypt, Baghdad and Syria were also dispossessed.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The difference is that they were looked after. They were not forced to remain refugees for generations which sadly is what has happened to Palestinians in many other parts of the region. So there are parallels but there are also huge differences and I have just touched on a few.

Deputy Haughey raised Melilla and Ceuta and migration. The recent tragic events in the Mediterranean highlight once again the need to deal with migration in a comprehensive and holistic way and to make sure we have agreements with countries of origin or countries of transit like Morocco. While the social, economic and political stresses arising from the crisis are very considerable, Ireland is committed to continuing the work with our EU partners to ensure the humanitarian and legal obligations continue to be met. Last week we received an update from the European Commission on progress made implementing the conclusions adopted at the special meeting of the European Council in February. The focus of that meeting was on co-operation with third countries, strengthening the EU's external borders and more efficient return of those without the right to stay in the EU. Last week, the European Council called for swift implementation of all items agreed upon. We will return to the issue of migration at our meeting in June.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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What about the energy price cap introduced in Spain and whether that was discussed at the meeting with Pedro Sánchez?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It was discussed. The view from President Sánchez was that we should reform the entire EU energy market and the way it works. There are different views on that. We would regard the Iberian exception as exactly that. One of the issues that has arisen as a consequence of the price cap, and this was accepted and discussed at the meeting, is a big increase in the use of gas by Spain and Portugal and a big increase in imports of gas there which has costs and climate consequences.