Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. [49999/25]

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with the UK Prime Minister. [50002/25]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. [63183/25]

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with the British Prime Minister. [63259/25]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with the British Prime Minister. [63268/25]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with the UK Prime Minister. [65778/25]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with the British Prime Minister. [65833/25]

Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with the British Prime Minister. [67526/25]

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. [67573/25]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach for a report on his recent meeting with the British Prime Minister. [67607/25]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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11. To ask the Taoiseach to report on his recent meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. [67792/25]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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12. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with the British Prime Minister. [67808/25]

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 12 together.

The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and I both attended the recent G20 Summit in South Africa. We had a number of conversations in the margins of meetings there, including on the situation in Ukraine, on which an informal meeting of the coalition of the willing took place. Previously, I met with Prime Minister Starmer at Chequers on 12 September. We discussed a broad range of matters, including the positive state of bilateral relations between Ireland and the UK. We also discussed the legacy framework - this was one of the reasons I went to Chequers - which was published subsequently on 19 September. The Prime Minister and I took note of progress on the UK-Ireland 2030 programme of strategic co-operation since the summit on 6 March on implementation across each of the programme’s four pillars of security, justice and global issues; climate, energy and innovation; growth, trade and investment; and culture, education and people-to-people links. We looked ahead to the second UK-Ireland summit, which Ireland will host in the spring of 2026. This work complements that undertaken under the British-Irish Council, which will meet in Wales later this week, and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, which took place in Dublin on 17 November.

The Prime Minister and I also discussed a range of international issues, including the catastrophic situation in Gaza. We agreed in particular on the then urgent need for a ceasefire, the release of hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid at scale, as well as finding a pathway to a two-state solution for a lasting peace. We committed to continue to work together with the coalition of the willing to strengthen support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia to stop its war of aggression on the people of Ukraine.

Deputies may wish to be aware that the First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney, was in Ireland last week to mark the agreement of a new bilateral co-operation framework between Ireland and Scotland. The new framework includes six broad areas for future co-operation, including in the context of a strengthened Ireland-UK relationship. I also met with First Minister Swinney in Government Buildings during his visit.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I have had numerous opportunities in this House to welcome in general terms the legacy framework that was agreed between the British and Irish Governments and published in early September. There is an urgent need to enact legislation to give effect to the provisions outlined in the framework. Did the Taoiseach detect an urgency or a very strong commitment from the UK Prime Minister on the need to get this issue dealt with? Many families have waited for justice for decades and decades. We have to move on and get progress on the rights, the concerns and the grief that engulfs so many families of victims for many decades now. At the end of this month, we will mark the 53rd anniversary of the Belturbet bombing, which cost the lives of two young teenagers. We also have had significant dates in relation to commemorations, for example marking the terrible atrocities in Monaghan and Dublin in May 1974. There are so many atrocities for which nobody has been brought to justice. We cannot ever attach enough urgency to trying to deal, once and for all, with legacy issues.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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The right to protest against the genocide in Palestine is being severely undermined the UK and this is being carried through to the North as well. I want to raise a case with the Taoiseach that he could raise with the Prime Minister. This is the case of Saoirse Wagner, a student at Queen's University in Belfast, who is being threatened with expulsion for taking part in a peaceful, calm and non-threatening protest on the issue of Palestine. The Palestine assembly in the college protested at the careers fair to highlight companies that are participating in the genocide. I think the Taoiseach will agree with me that taking part in student protest is a fundamental right and so important in our democracy. To threaten a student with their whole third level education being completely taken away for participating in a peaceful protest is something we should take a stand against. I ask the Taoiseach to make representations to the college. Saoirse is known to me. I know that she would not participate in anything violent. I ask the Taoiseach to take this case on board.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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We are coming up to the 50th anniversary of the Dundalk bombing, which happened on 19 December 1975. Dundalk lost Hugh Watters, who was a local tailor and a well-respected man, and Jack Rooney, a fireman and a man who worked for the council. Obviously, this was devastating for their families. A memorial event has been organised by the families. It is going to happen near the courthouse, where there is a plaque, at 6.15 p.m. on Friday, 19 December. I think it is very important that we commemorate this 50th anniversary. It was the same night as the attack on Donnelly's Bar in Silverbridge where three people were killed. This was carried out by the Glenanne gang. We know this was a UVF gang which had members of the UDR and the RUC within it and obviously, the British state was up to its neck in relation to it. I would ask about the engagement around producing a framework that will actually deliver for families like these that have been failed and that Britain does not walk away from its role and its dirty war that it fought in Ireland.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Taoiseach said he discussed Gaza and Palestine with Keir Starmer. A standard tactic of the Israeli state has been to say that anybody who criticises Israel for genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing or the persecution of Palestinians, is somehow antisemitic. Keir Starmer, of course, has a record of going along with that nonsense and attacking people like Jeremy Corbyn, who is one of the most long-standing anti-racists and an absolute opponent of antisemitism. It is an outrageous accusation. We have now seen an instance of our own ambassador being dressed down by an Israeli minister, who accused the Irish people and the Irish Government of antisemitism. I would like to know what the Taoiseach thinks about that. Is he capitulating to that bullying by the Israeli state by intervening on the proposal to rename Herzog Park? This is an entirely justified proposal, given Chaim Herzog's history of involvement in ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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A series health crisis is arising in the North of Ireland at the moment. Sinn Féin, the DUP, the UUP and the Alliance Party are closing down key hospital services in Daisy Hill Hospital, Enniskillen and Causeway Hospital in Derry. These closures are having a significant effect on services. Patients in Craigavon hospital are waiting for 19 hours to see their emergency doctor. The waiting time at the emergency department in the Royal Victoria Hospital is nine hours.

One day, there were 40 ambulances stuck at hospitals trying to deliver their patients. The longest waiting time was 13 hours. I pay tribute to the SOS Causeway Hospital campaign and Gemma Brolly, who is involved in that.

The boss of the British Medical Association in the North stated that an all-Ireland GP service would be a way to help resolve these crises. Daisy Hill, Enniskillen and Causeway all have hinterlands that feed into the South of Ireland in areas where there is great need for hospital services too. Is the Taoiseach speaking to the British Prime Minister about developing an all-Ireland health service?

Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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When I asked the Taoiseach about flood relief for east Cork villages last week, he accused me of being sly in how I had raised the question. That adjective could be more fairly levelled at his British counterpart, Keir Starmer, who built his political career on the basis of being a human rights lawyer and unifier of the left. In power, he has enthusiastically supported the imprisonment of people for years who protest against climate inaction, along with the designation of protesters of genocide as terrorists. I fully appreciate that the UK makes its own political decisions and that we have to maintain good relations with political leaders with whom we often might have major disagreements, but it is also true that Irish citizens are affected by Starmer’s authoritarian crackdown on peaceful protests. Acclaimed novelist Sally Rooney has been prevented from collecting a prestigious Sky Arts award in person due to fears of arrest for her support of Palestine Action. Great-grandmother Máire Ní Mhurchú, originally from Douglas in Cork, was arrested in London in September, along with her sisters Gráinne and Olga, for a peaceful protest against genocide. When the Taoiseach met Keir Starmer, did he raise with him his government's aggressive and authoritarian approach to peaceful protest and its impact on Irish as well as British citizens?

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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With reference to the Taoiseach’s meeting with British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, I note the progress made by the UK Government with regard to dealing with legacy, and I compliment Deputy Smith on his work in this area in particular.

I note the publication this week by the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee around legacy. One of the more interesting recommendations was that Ireland needs to do more with regard to legacy. I would love to hear the Taoiseach's thoughts on that given that all of the legacy investigations of this country have been ECHR compliant, which is not necessarily something that can be said in the case of the UK.

I call for increased and accelerated action on, in particular, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. That has been raised many times in this House and it needs to fall under the ambit of the legacy issues as well.

What engagement has the Taoiseach had with the Prime Minister on the ongoing humanitarian disaster of a crisis in Sudan, somewhere the international community needs to step up and pay attention? I wish to hear his thoughts on their engagement on that matter.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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There can be no watering-down of the commitments made in the British and Irish Governments' joined legacy framework. There are parts of that framework I question but it is very important. I welcome the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report on this legacy legislation. The primary legislation underpinning the political framework is moving through Westminster. The bottom line is that the legislation must command the confidence of the families and be human rights compliant in order for it to properly deal with the legacy of the past. Reports that the legislation, which is already weak in parts, could be watered down are extremely concerning and will not be accepted. It is deeply concerning that any legislation would provide the British Secretary of State with the power to veto disclosure on national security grounds for family reports from the information retrieval body, the ICIR and the new legacy commission. All families and survivors have the right to have an Article 2-compliant investigation into the deaths of their loved ones.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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A new defence co-operation agreement with Britain is to be signed soon. Members of the House of Lords are saying it will mean a stronger defence relationship between Ireland and the UK. The Taoiseach himself has said there must be very close co-operation with the British when it comes to security. Does he really think that is what Irish people want? Has he forgotten that our neutrality originates from an anti-imperialist struggle against Britain, a struggle Fianna Fáll once fought for? Can he tell us what will be in this new military agreement? Britain is increasing its military expenditure by £67.7 billion. It is an active participant in the genocide in Gaza. Are we going to be expected to massively increase our military expenditure, too, as part of this new agreement?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank all of the Deputies for raising a range of issues. Deputy Smith was the first to raise the issue of legacy. I believe there is a sincere commitment on behalf of the British Government as to the implementation of the legacy framework. That is shared by Prime Minister Starmer and, indeed, Secretary of State Hilary Benn, who has acted honourably in all of the negotiations and discussions in respect of the legacy framework. I visited Chequers last September specifically on legacy, along with other issues. It was important to meet with Keir Starmer on that. He has experience of the North from a former role there.

I know the Deputy has been a strong advocate on Belturbet and Monaghan and Dublin. From our perspective, it is important that the Denton report may shed some light on the Monaghan bombing and related issues Deputy Ó Murchú raised. This is relevant also to the activities of the Glennane gang and we eagerly await its publication. Operation Kenova was quite good, in my view, particularly in terms of the victims, who were very impressed with Jon Boutcher when he was in charge of Kenova. They articulated to me that he was one of the first people they met who understood where the families of the victims are coming from.

Deputy Moynihan also raised legacy. We have responsibilities in our jurisdiction. If assertions are made about us, we need to robustly deal with them, but the most effective way to do it is to make sure we respond properly to legacy. As part of the framework agreement, the British Government has, with speed, produced its legislation. That demonstrates the seriousness with which it is approaching this essential work. We are also producing legislation once the UK legislation is enacted. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, has said he is hopeful the general scheme of the Bill will be published in April or May of next year. Enabling reciprocal co-operation between the two jurisdictions is at the heart of the agreed joint framework on legacy.

Additionally, as part of the joint framework agreement, the Garda Commissioner has agreed to the establishment by the end of this year of a dedicated unit as a central point of contact in relation to Troubles-related investigations undertaken by An Garda Síochána. That is an important step forward. Unionist communities in the North have always had a view. We did the Smithwick tribunal and we dealt with it quickly as part of the commitment of earlier agreements, but we do also have to be upfront in terms of the legacy framework and respond properly and comprehensively in relation to that.

I say to Deputy Ó Murchú and all those concerned about legacy that it is not about British state violence alone. It is about that, but it is also about the role of the paramilitaries, such as the Provisional IRA. I have met families of victims who have had no closure at all in terms of atrocities committed by the Provisional IRA or the Ulster loyalist groups. The focus has to be broad-based. There is an opportunity in this legacy framework to give closure to families once and for all, after decades of a lack of closure.

Deputy Coppinger raised the issue of Saoirse Wagner and asked me to talk to the Queen's University authorities. The right to protest is sacrosanct. A number of Deputies have raised this issue. Sometimes protests impede other people from doing their normal work, which is a problem. People are entitled to protest. When the war in Gaza started, I was addressing a group of 100 law students, but the objective of a protest was to stop me and to interfere with the exercise and engagement with about 100 law students. People were shouting internally, security asked them to leave and eventually they did. I was in no doubt that the whole purpose was that I would not have that engagement. Where is the balance of rights there in terms of my freedom to speak as a public representative or the freedom of people in the community to hear me? A lot of protests have crossed the line, in my opinion, with a view to stopping things happening. During a consultative forum on security challenges that I hosted as Minister for foreign affairs two years ago, the protests at that were not about protests. They were deliberately calculated to disrupt the event.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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The forum was not about consultation either, was it?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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It was a legitimate consultation. If the Deputy believes in freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, what he and like-minded people were about was stopping that from even happening.

They never complain about that. It is fair play for them to do that. There is balance here.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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I do not know about the protest.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Of course the Deputy knows about the protests. She knows all about them.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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I have no idea what the Taoiseach is on about.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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They were on the public television, for God's sake.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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I do not organise every protest in Ireland.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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They were on the public television, in the media and everywhere. In this House-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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That does not make it terrorism.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----assertions were made. I am not calling it that.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The Deputies are only delaying the next question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The point I am illustrating is that there are different forms of protest on the continuum and some of those forms are unacceptable-----

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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We did not organise-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputy, stop engaging, please.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----as an infringement of the rights of people generally. That is the point I am making.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The time has elapsed.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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I am just correcting a mistruth there.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is not a one-way street-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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It does not matter.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----all of the time. That is the point I am making. Ramming gates at Shannon Airport is not a legitimate form of protest. Stopping trade through Dublin Port is not a legitimate form of protest-----

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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We are not.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----because people's livelihood depends on it. Eighty per cent of trade in this country goes through Dublin Port. Having a problem with a company is not a justification, in my view, for disrupting the entire port. I have no problem having a debate. I participated in protests as a student. I think student protests are important.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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Did you?

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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This is not a debate.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I did, actually

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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Okay, I will look that one up.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy can do that. Joe Duffy was put in prison as a result of that protest. It was to do with medical cards. There you are now. Students in this country automatically had medical cards at one time. That was taken away in the eighties. The point is that legitimate protests-----

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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Which party was that?

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Ah please, Deputy, we have to get through this.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I think it was the Deputy's former colleagues in the Labour Party.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Taoiseach, are we moving on?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is history. Protests happen, and I have no issue with that, but there is a continuum. I will take the Ceann Comhairle's advice.

To Deputy Ó Murchú, I have dealt with some of the legacy issues, which Deputy Conway-Walsh also raised. I will talk to Queen's University on that point. In terms of the Dundalk bombing and the Glennane gang, I hope Operation Denton will shed light on that.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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What about the health services?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will come to that. On Deputy Boyd Barrett's question, there is no relationship between the strategy and policy of the Israeli Government and my views on the renaming of Herzog Park. I have a very basic view. Throughout the history of the State, there have been namings and renamings. I am, and have been, a student of history and I taught students. I always showed them that the names of parks could be the remnants of empire or anything, but they are windows to explain the history of a given subject or personality. If we keep shutting down everything that is named after somebody, there will be no history left.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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When was it named Herzog Park?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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There will not be a history left.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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When was it named Herzog Park? It was ten or 20 years ago.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Please move on, Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is not the point.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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That is not history.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is, actually, if you go back through his father and before that and examine how Jewish communities came to Ireland in the first instance. There is huge history there, for God's sake.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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But not the park.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputy-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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It is still history if you change the name of the park.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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As a historian and someone who is interested in history, I would be very careful.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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-----you are verging on disruptive.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Breandán Ó hEithir wrote in Lig Sinn i gCathú about the thirties when places were being shut down left, right and centre.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Seven more Deputies, Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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There is a lot more to it than that, but it has nothing to do with this. I can put Deputy Boyd Barrett at ease in that regard.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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There are seven more Deputies to answer, Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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By the way, I object, like the Deputy does, to Israel's consistent messaging that if you are not onside, you are offside or antisemitic. That is wrong. You are entitled to be against Israeli Government policy and criticise it and not be labelled antisemitic. That is absolutely correct and I support it.

Deputy Tóibín should talk to his former colleagues in Sinn Féin in earnest and engage with them on the health services in Northern Ireland. That is one issue. There are broader problems with the National Health Service generally, but there are real issues in Northern Ireland. There is no question about the pressures on the health service there.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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There are benefits to an all-Ireland health service.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputy, this is not a continuous back-and-forth. I am not allowing that. This is Taoiseach's Questions. The Deputy has asked a question and is getting an answer.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Under the shared island initiative, we are trying to do specific projects and programmes, for example in paediatric and cardiovascular health, cardiac surgery and the cancer centre at Altnagelvin hospital. Those are good programmes that have worked very well.

Deputy Quaide referred to Prime Minister Starmer. I do not see him as an authoritarian person when I meet him. I spoke about the continuum of protest. I am not au fait with British security services or why they came to do what they did in respect of Palestine Action. We have proceeded differently in this country. When I meet Prime Minister Starmer, I will have an opportunity to deal fundamentally with a range of issues although we cannot deal with every single issue. The UK has had challenges on both sides of the political spectrum in respect of protests and the nature of those protests.

I dealt with the points raised by Deputy Shane Moynihan about Operation Denton. The Sudan issue is one I have raised consistently with leaders, including publicly, at the G20 summit and at the Africa-European Union summit. It is catastrophic. It rarely gets mentioned in this House, but 12 million people have been displaced. Genocide against the civilian population is happening there. Some of the rebel forces are being supported by neighbouring countries with arms and so forth.

To respond to Deputy Conway-Walsh, the framework is Article 2 compliant. It is far stronger than its predecessor as a legacy Bill.

Deputy Murphy raised the new co-operation agreement. It absolutely makes sense that we co-operate very closely with the United Kingdom on the gas connectors, for example. Those are a huge security vulnerability for both the UK and Ireland, but particularly for Ireland. Within a week, our economy would come to a standstill if anything untoward were to happen to those interconnectors. I hope the Deputy would agree that we should have close defence co-operation for our economic security, in particular, and for our subsea cables. That will mean a lot of technological co-operation. When a Russian shadow fleet crosses over those pipes or subsea cables, very often divers have to go down and check that the pipes are okay. That is co-operation. Letting people know that somebody who might be up to not good is in your terrain is co-operation. Intelligence services sharing information about terrorists or potential attacks is co-operation. There should be no big deal about co-operation.

By the way, on the origin of our neutrality, it was not an anti-imperialist origin. In fact, at the consultative forum, there was a very good seminar on our neutrality and its origins. Obviously, the Second World War was at the core. We were neutral in not having issues with Britain and the occupation of Northern Ireland and so on, but the more fundamental issue was that it was a neutrality of survival. No one was in a position to defend Ireland in 1939, 1940 or 1941. There were good presentations made at that consultative forum but Deputy Murphy boycotted it because he felt it was not worthwhile. It would have been informative had he gone. It would have provided a more nuanced view-----

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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It is a shame the Taoiseach scrapped the idea of a citizens' assembly.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----of the origins of our neutrality.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Taoiseach and ask him to move to the next question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for her tolerance.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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It is not my tolerance. I get complaints at the Business Committee that this forum is not working. We are going to take it to the Dáil reform committee for change.