Results 221-240 of 46,387 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: We are not members of NATO, and-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: We are not, in terms of our military neutrality. However, there is a clause of mutual solidarity in the European Union, which means we would support - in any way we can - such as the way we are supporting Ukraine right now. However, that has never been tested.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: That has been approved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Is the Deputy asking in terms of the military assistance?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Is the Deputy referring to the training with EUMAM Ukraine?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: That has been very effective, insofar as the number of Ukrainian military and soldiers that have been trained and so on. Ireland has participated in a number of programmes. We provided training to about 455 members of the Ukrainian armed forces. These modules have been in tactical combat, casualty care, drill instruction training, demining and the use of mine flails. There are eight Irish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: It does not bear thinking about.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: The size of our contribution will be 182 participants. I can get the details for the Deputy, but it is in different phases. Its group headquarters consist of four personnel, a mechanised infantry company with a company HQ and two platoons, a weapons platoons consisting of 139 personnel together with a national support element consisting of 29 persons providing the necessary transport,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I gave that answer to the Dáil last week. There are frozen Russian assets and we are talking about the windfall revenue generated as a result of the interest. I can get the precise figure for the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Generally speaking, I do not use that juxtaposition. I do not know where the figure comes from but I presume it is our net contribution more generally. I have read the report and presumably it is some extrapolation of our overall net contribution. Ireland is a net contributor to the European Union. We do not have a strong defence industry in Ireland. That is why we do not draw down...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I think the Deputy's points are very valid. In my case, it was fake advertising encouraging people to get involved in a cryptocurrency company and they can become a millionaire. I was described as a millionaire, which I am not. I caught the one on X, there was one on Google and there was a series on X that was more refined. There was the Irish Independent and a journalist from the Irish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: They do not all have to be foreign actors. I know of one case in Ireland in the last general election where there was a significant victim of this and it had impacts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: It is quite shocking that Sudan is getting nowhere near the profile that the humanitarian crisis that is Sudan represents. It is one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent human history. It has generated the world's largest internal displacement and hunger crisis. On 3 May, the famine early warning system network warned of famine with millions of people experiencing severe hunger. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: It all speaks to a massive migration phenomenon across the world that is fundamentally caused by war, authoritarian regimes and climate change. If you are a young Eritrean of years of age and are facing a life under an autocratic military leader, that is a reason to try to get out. The problem is they are smuggled out; they pay or their families pay. They have terrible journeys. They end...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I thank Senator Ardagh for her comments. I take her point on the International Criminal Court and the international legal system more generally. I have always been very clear that it takes time and that the impact is not immediate. However, the court is an important forum of accountability. Among EU member states, Ireland has been one of the most proactive at the ICJ and the ICC so far in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Investment in cybersecurity has grown exponentially in the past five years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I will be here next week to debate that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: In regard to the Irish Embassy in Tel Aviv, that EU local statement was on Holocaust Memorial Day.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: It was in that context that the statement from the EU member states was signed off. To be fair to the embassy, generally we are in touch with it on multiple occasions daily. There has been a great deal of interaction between the embassy and the Government of Israel in respect of our stance on this issue. There is no ambiguity or misunderstanding about our position in regard to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council, UN Matters and Individually Tailored Partnership Programme with NATO: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Generally speaking, the advice of Attorneys General-----