Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on any recent discussions with Prime Minister Starmer. [1681/25]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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11. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the 42nd British-Irish Council in Edinburgh in December 2024. [1682/25]

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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12. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on any recent discussions with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. [4235/25]

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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13. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the 42nd British-Irish Council in Edinburgh in December. [4236/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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14. To ask the Taoiseach to provide a report of his recent meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (details supplied). [4388/25]

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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15. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on any recent discussions with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. [5940/25]

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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16. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the 42nd British-Irish Council in Edinburgh, in December 2024. [5941/25]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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17. To ask the Taoiseach to report on his recent engagements with the British Prime Minister. [5754/25]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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18. To ask the Taoiseach to report on any recent discussions with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. [6085/25]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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19. To ask the Taoiseach to report on any recent discussions with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. [6088/25]

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 19, inclusive, together.

I most recently met with Prime Minister Starmer on 3 February in Brussels in the margins of a dinner with European Union leaders that we both attended. We discussed our shared ambition to strengthen our bilateral relationship and looked forward to seeing each other at the first in a series of annual Ireland-United Kingdom summits that will take place in the United Kingdom next month. We also discussed Northern Ireland, noting that that day marked the first anniversary of the restoration of the power-sharing institutions, as well as European Union-United Kingdom relations, including in the areas of security and defence.

I also spoke with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer by phone on 27 January when he called to congratulate me on my appointment as Taoiseach. We discussed bilateral relations, Northern Ireland and our shared commitment as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, and international issues, in particular Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I sincerely hope that in any discussions with the British Government, Prime Minister or members of the British Government, regardless of the agenda, that the British Government’s despicable and deplorable legacy legislation is discussed. Many times in this House and within meetings of parliamentary parties and Oireachtas committees, we have unanimously called for the repeal of that legislation. No amendment by the British Government of that legislation will ever make it acceptable to the victims and the families of victims who have suffered so much for many decades now.

I also sincerely hope that the Taoiseach raised the ongoing issue of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974. I think on four occasions this House made unanimous calls on the British Government to give access to an independent international legal person to all papers and files pertaining to those tragedies on that day both in my own constituency and in Dublin city. As the Taoiseach knows, I have always referred to other atrocities in my own constituency, and particularly the Belturbet bombing of December 1972 when young, innocent teenagers were killed. In all of the discussions with the British Government, whether with us at parliamentary level or at Government level, and at Head of Government level in particular, the need to address legacy and reconciliation must be to the forefront in all discussions. I would like an assurance that those issues were raised in all discussions with the British Government, the British Prime Minister and other members of that Government as well.

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I also seek an update on what conversations were had relating to the legacy Act. As Deputy Smith rightly said, the contents of that Act are deplorable, despicable and absolutely unacceptable to every victim and family of those victims in Northern Ireland.

The Taoiseach spoke about the just transition and putting this on a sustainable footing. Has there been a conversation with British authorities about co-operation in the area of building offshore windfarms? We do not have ports that are sufficient to be maintenance ports for the building and maintenance of offshore wind turbines. Is there potential co-operation between Scotland, Belfast and the Republic?

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to be associated with the comments about the former TD, Dan Wallace.

The Taoiseach said he spoke about climate resilience with Keir Starmer. Just as the war in Ukraine showed how exposed this country is to the vagaries of the international energy market, the recent storm exposed how ill prepared we are to deal with the consequences and our resilience in terms of climate change. The Taoiseach does not need me to tell him about the 750,000 people who were without power or particularly the people in the Brosna area in Kerry who were without power as a result of the snow, some of whom have had up to 20 power cuts in the last calendar year.

Recent Governments have failed to prepare Ireland’s electricity grid and network to withstand these types of extreme weather events. I think everyone can agree with that. As a result we are reliant on other countries such as Keir Starmer’s Britain to provide things like back-up generators. While we appreciate their generosity, we have been left at the mercy of others. Were any concrete steps discussed to reinforce our back-up generation capacity? Can the Taoiseach provide an update on the development of any long duration energy storage to build our climate resilience? Similarly, we have become over-reliant on Britain and rather than developing our own potential we have been dependent on British energy imports. Did the Taoiseach discuss the impact of this mechanism with Keir Starmer?

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I would like to agree with all that has been said on the legacy Act. I imagine there is agreement across this House and beyond that it is utterly unacceptable and some of this relates to the fact that Britain does not want to deal with its particular role in the dirty war that it conducted in Ireland. In my own constituency, in my own town of Dundalk, we are looking at the 50th anniversary in December of the Dundalk bombing which was the same night as Donnelly’s Bar. In Dundalk we lost Hugh Watters and Jack Rooney so it is very real for these families.

Was there any conversation about dealing with the electronic travel authorisation and the issues it might create for cross-Border tourism which we need to deal with? I concur with what Deputy Daly and others have said on how we need to look at our infrastructure and resilience. There are particular issues in the Border area around addressing that including facilitating each other around work but also on the actual infrastructure. I am thinking especially of water, electricity and other facilities.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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As the US Administration moves to the authoritarian right I think all in this House agree that it is vitally important that we strengthen solidarity across Europe and that we strengthen our links with Britain and between Britain and the EU. Given our unique bilateral relationship with Britain and the fact that we now have a Labour Prime Minister in Britian, we will all agree it is especially important that Ireland strengthens those links with Britian.

The Taoiseach said that on 27 January, in his phone call with Keir Starmer, they spoke about Ukraine and Gaza but so much has changed since then. We see the Trump Administration tearing up the international rules-based order, undermining and destroying international human rights protections and environmental accords, pulling out of the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement, sanctioning officials from the International Criminal Court, promoting ethnic cleansing in Gaza and now seeking to negotiate a deal with Russia over the heads of the people of Ukraine and sidelining the EU. My family background is Czech. The Czech people know about what Munich accords can mean and what they can lead to. There is desperate fear and distress across the EU and across Ukraine in particular as we approach the dreadful anniversary of the invasion just three years ago and the appalling devastation we have seen across Ukraine. Does the Taoiseach propose that at the next meeting with Keir Starmer, which I think he said will be in March at the next British-Irish Summit, he will speak to the Prime Minister about how best to ensure that Britain and the EU can stand firm in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and ensure that any negotiations or peace agreement is not done over their heads and without their input or the input of the EU?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Dublin and Monaghan bombings were the single biggest atrocity in one day of the entire Troubles when 33 people were killed in bombings that Loyalist paramilitaries admitted they carried out, almost certainly with the collusion of the British Government. The Taoiseach should ask for Britain to release all the files and information available about those atrocities but he is in a very weak position to make such demands of Keir Starmer if the Irish authorities, and the Garda specifically, are refusing to give the files in their possession about those bombings, which the families of the victims of the bombings in 1974 have repeatedly asked for. Relatives of the victims of this atrocity have had to go to the High Court to try to get the Garda and the Garda Commissioner to share those; the Garda is refusing to give the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland and Operation Newham the files it has on the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. That stinks to high heaven. It means we have no credibility asking the British Government, which we should, to release the files it has on its outrageous collusion with the paramilitaries who carried out those massacres but the Garda Commissioner, despite repeated requests and legal action by the relatives, will not give Operation Newham the files it has on the bombings.

Will the Taoiseach explain that and do something about it?

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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As we speak, representatives of two big imperialist powers are sitting down in Saudi Arabia to decide the future of Ukraine - to carve it up without any Ukrainian representatives even being present. It is illustrative of the fact that the world we live in is increasingly divided between these big imperialist powers and their rivalries and it underlines the need for Ireland to be a consistent voice against imperialism and oppression and for peace. The Ukrainian people have suffered throughout all of this. They have suffered throughout the horrendous invasion by Russia and now the US is willing to use them, willing to see Ukrainian people suffer in order to attempt to weaken Russia and then for it to walk away when the US, under Trump, decides to pivot to Asia. Their interests have always been at the last of this.

What is ironic is that the invasion of Ukraine was used in this country to drive an agenda of militarisation, with people saying we needed to align with the US and align with NATO. The coming to an end of this war will now be used to say we need to align and be part of some sort of European process of militarisation. I have a concrete question. Starmer has said he is willing to send British troops on the ground to Ukraine. Simon Harris has not ruled out Irish troops being sent. Will the Taoiseach rule out sending troops abroad? Will he say we will not be sending military aid, whether it is lethal or so-called "non-lethal", for an armed conflict?

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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There is cross-party agreement in this House on the necessity to repeal the legacy Act. The Taoiseach will be representing us all when he ensures that happens.

The issue I wish to raise with the Taoiseach relates to Frank Stagg. The 50th anniversary of his death will be marked in 2026. The Taoiseach will be aware that Frank Stagg was a hunger striker from Mayo. An academic work on his case is under way, but it transpires that the British have locked away his files in Kew until 2089. I raised this issue with Hilary Benn previously. I ask the Taoiseach to raise it with the British Prime Minister. There is no reason whatsoever the files on Frank Stagg, the hunger striker, should be locked away until 2089.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I have one minute now, is it?

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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Can we give the Taoiseach more time?

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I can, yes.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I just want to get a bit of discipline here now. There are 45 minutes for Questions to the Taoiseach. It is not an hour. We need to make up our minds.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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Can we take time from the third grouping?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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We can.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Will we allow two more minutes?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I do not mind. I am open to that, if it is means ten minutes or whatever.

Deputy Brendan Smith and a number of other Deputies raised the issue of the legacy legislation. I remind Deputies that I took the decision as then Minister for Foreign Affairs to refer that legislation to the European Court of Human Rights. To be fair to the new Government in the United Kingdom, it has moved to remove core aspects of the legacy legislation, particularly in respect of immunity. I have discussed this at length with Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The Tánaiste, Simon Harris, is now engaging. The core issue relates to the commission having a separate strand in terms of information and investigation. There are other issues as well. Those discussions are ongoing between officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs and officials in the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland's office in respect of whether ICRIR can be reformed in a manner that would win back the confidence of victims' groups. Our officials have engaged with all of the victims' groups. I have met them personally in respect of the issues that have arisen. There has been progress, however - we need to put that on the record - compared with what was in the original Bill tabled by the then Conservative Government. Also, the inquests are restored, and the civil cases in particular. That is progress, but it is not enough. We have to continue to work on it.

More generally on the legacy issue, I watched "Say Nothing" on the Disney Channel. There are a whole lot of issues of bombings, murder and the kidnapping of Jean McConville where there has been no real attempt at closure, no real attempt at reconciliation and no attempt to say what happened was wrong. It was wrong. If you look at the episode on the bombing of the Old Bailey, with 200 innocent British people injured and maimed, what was all that about? We need to deal with legacy in a most comprehensive way. It is striking we have not had a debate on Kenova in this House. There is a comprehensive report. It deals with collusion between the British state and loyalist paramilitaries in the murder of innocent people and, indeed, of others. It also deals with the campaign of the Provisional IRA against its own people, as Kenova describes it, but this House has not even had a debate on that. That is something we should consider in terms of the comprehensive aspect of dealing with legacy because it does matter for future generations that these issues are properly teased out in terms of the use of violence for political ends.

On the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, I am clear that any material we have should be given to any inquiry-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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It is not happening.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Hear me out, please.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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It is not happening.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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It happened already where the bespoke legislation was passed in respect of Kingsmills, for example, with a judge there paying tribute to the Irish Government. I am clear - I have been saying it to the Minister for Justice and his predecessor - that in respect of the Omagh bombing, there is an inquiry up and running and information should be provided by the Government, and the Department of Justice in particular.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Thanks, Taoiseach.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is not happening in Drew Harris's case.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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On the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, I make the point that it was previous Fianna Fáil Governments that led the way in respect of inquiries into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Sort this one out.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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We know the outcome of the various reports in terms of access to the British files.

I do not have time to respond to all the other Deputies. Deputy Daly raised the energy market and the energy question.

The meeting was a preparatory meeting for the summit, which will happen in March and will be comprehensive. It will cover a wide range of issues which will involve a number of Ministers. Obviously, the security situation in Europe was discussed, as well as Northern Ireland and legacy.

Deputy Bacik raised a very important point regarding fear in Ukraine and fear in Czechia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland about Russian aggression. We do not appreciate enough in this country or in this House the absolute fear that what has happened in the past will happen again. They feel in real danger. That is changing the nature of debate in Europe on security and defence. The Members should be under no illusions about it. We have to be clear about that and be supportive of Ukraine. We will be providing non-lethal aid to Ukraine. I make no apologies for that because they need it.