Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

From listening to representatives of the chamber of commerce in Dún Laoghaire, I understand that because cruise line business into Dún Laoghaire has been growing, this has helped considerably to minimise the impact of any potential job losses. I was also interested to discover that originally Dunleary was the name of the area and it was only on the arrival of King George IV in 1820 that the good citizens of Dunleary decided to rename the town as Kingstown. The Irish Free State then of course reverted to the original Dún Laoghaire. I worked in RTE for a long time and when I was there first, it had a pronunciation unit. To this day, RTE people are the people who refer to that area as "Dún Laoghaire", whereas most people refer to it as "Dunleary". There is a similar situation in Portlaoise, where most people who live there call it "Portlaois" but, according to RTE, it is "Portlaoise".

In addition, I wish to praise the Minister, Deputy Reilly, for holding firm against what seems to be an onslaught from Europe - I am sure the Leader will comment on this - in respect of standardised tobacco packaging. The Seanad passed that legislation last year and I understand it is due to come before the Dáil later this month. I am glad to note the Minister is holding firm, despite what appears to be unprecedented opposition from at least ten European Union member states. It goes to show what Senator Crown, a leading advocate of that legislation, said at the time it was introduced here to the effect that the tobacco industry is the enemy and is very well resourced. It is obvious that the tobacco industry's lobbying skills have managed to have a great impact in a number of member states. However, the fact that the United Kingdom and France are moving towards adopting similar legislation will strengthen our resolve.

Finally, I wish to bring up again an issue I raised earlier this week to which the Leader had responded positively, that is, the possibility of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, coming before the House. As Members are aware, over the past 48 hours, he has been referring to the strong relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland and about the fears people in this country have about the possibility, on foot of the holding of a referendum after the elections in the United Kingdom, of the United Kingdom exiting from the European Union. I am particularly pleased that the Minister is visiting Scotland today because I believe we have somehow undervalued the historic relationship between Scotland and Ireland. As the North of Ireland is in one sense a shared jurisdiction in terms of a shared interest in which Scotland has a strong historical role, that visit is particularly significant and I welcome it. My original request was about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, which has been escalated even further by the US Defence Secretary-in-waiting saying he is "inclined" towards supporting Ukraine with arms. I consider that to be an escalation that is not helping in any way towards a peaceful resolution in that troubled area. However, when the Leader is communicating with the Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, in this regard, it would be an opportunity for the Minister both to give an outline of the Irish position on the Russian sanctions and about the impending referendum on the European Union. It would be an opportunity for the Minister to restate Ireland's position in this House - which I believe would be supported overwhelmingly by the Irish people - namely, that we would support continuing membership of the European Union by the United Kingdom if for nothing other than purely selfish reasons.