Results 10,681-10,700 of 51,889 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: I will start by responding to Senator Ardagh. She mentioned the terrible attack on Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell in Omagh. As I have said in the Dáil, it was a shocking and brutal attack on a man who has given so much in his capacity as a PSNI detective but also as a citizen of Northern Ireland who coached an underage team. He gave the very best of himself to society, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: I do not think a third of the country is occupied, is it? South Ossetia and Abkhazia are the two areas. Notwithstanding that, there is a sense that more reforms are needed within Georgia. We want Georgia to be a candidate country but I just have to call it as it is at times and give the EU position on the matter. On sanctions generally, we target the elites. We tend to run the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: Disinformation is getting as much attention as cyberattacks. When the war broke out in Ukraine, the big clarion call across EU member states was disinformation. People knew Russia would be sponsoring a whole range of disinformation attacks in terms of the war itself and the broader picture and, if you like, the campaign to persuade the global south as to who is right and who is wrong in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: Yes. Ireland is again to the fore on accountability questions. Accountability must be before international courts and international fora that investigate any atrocities for war crimes that are committed. That is easier said than done, but we have been consistent supporters of international organisations that endeavour to bring people to account for unacceptable war crimes, no matter where...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: We fund across the board. Obviously, these agencies like the International Criminal Court need additional resources from time to time. We help, along with other states, to contribute to that. I have spoken to representatives from the European Court of Human Rights. We had a general meeting of the Council on this when I visited during our Presidency last year. For a court to adjudicate,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: That is no surprise-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: There is no surprise in respect of Israel and its general view. I have experience of very learned international judicial figures having produced reports in the past, and the degree to which they were personally undermined subsequently was quite shocking. That is going back over a decade. The International Criminal Court is investigating the situation in Palestine, as well as Ukraine and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy should join the bilateral talks on the Estimates and statements.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: Come on. I have used different language for the whole day.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: You are forever partisan and politicising the Palestine issue. “Who is better than the next person on Palestine?” seems to be the competition and it needs to stop.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: On Deputy Berry’s points on the support we are giving through the training of Ukrainian soldiers in respect of key areas like de-mining, combat medical aid and so on, which, again, people have endeavoured to portray in a wrong way, I think it is the very least we can do for a nation that has come under the most appalling attacks, the destruction of civilian populations, the targeting...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: Senator Ó Donnghaile also made comments about what I said. It is a trend, and a pattern. It is not just Senator Ó Donnghaile.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: I am giving Senator Ó Donnghaile my answer. He might not like my answer, but I am telling him. I have no intention of getting into a competition.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: I think the best solution is the two-state solution. I will make my call as to the language I use, and when I use it. I wish Senator Ó Donnghaile would do the same when he meets his American interlocutors. I rarely hear Senator Ó Donnghaile or members of his party ever coming back from a delegation to the United States saying that they have raised Palestine with Senators or the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: It is a fair point, and I am putting it back to the Senator. I think the Senator should be consistent-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: I have answered the question on accountability, and I will answer it again. However, I am making a point. Senator Ó Donnghaile attacked me about language I used-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: The Senator did, and he had a criticism, which he is entitled to make, by the way.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: I am entitled to respond also and say that I think Senator Ó Donnghaile is playing a double game here. When he goes to the United States and engages with United States Senators and Congress people, I rarely hear, in any press release afterwards, any commentary whatsoever about Palestine. The Senator's party tends to reserve it for the Irish Government all of the time, or certain...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: What I can do, as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, and what we can do as a Government and as a country, is strengthen the capacity of bodies like the International Criminal Court, the UN more generally, and the European Court of Human Rights. We can strengthen their capacities by supporting them with funding, resources and personnel. It is a source of great pride that we have an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council and Priorities for 2023: Minister for Foreign Affairs (28 Feb 2023)

Micheál Martin: I do not believe that specific legislation would have any impact on accountability, in real terms. Its practical application has always been questionable. As a symbol, it had merit in getting a message to Israel but in terms of its practical working out, Senator Ó Donnghaile would have to acknowledge that in terms of realities on the ground, there will always be difficulties with it....