Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming our Maltese friends and the Speaker. I have a family connection with Malta insofar as my mother's great aunt was a Little Sister of the Poor who went out to Malta aged 16 years, believe it or not, and was in the convent in Hamrun near Valletta. I visited her grave some years ago. It was a tremendous commitment on her part but it was also a very sad story. She left Ireland as a young woman at 16 years and she never returned. At some stage in the 1950s or 1960s, a group of our family were emigrating to Australia and the boat they took was to stop in Valletta. There was great excitement as a package was prepared for a Sr. Louis Charles, as her name was. She went down to Valletta to meet the boat but, unfortunately, there was a storm and the boat was unable to dock. It was a terrible sadness at that time. The boat continued and she never got to meet anyone from her family again. It shows that, going back, the links between Malta and Ireland are very strong. I have heard people say we are the only English-speaking country left in the EU, but of course that is not true. It is great to see another English-speaking nation join us here today. They are very welcome.

In the context of the EU, colleagues here are members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It is responsible for the European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, in Strasbourg. This week it elected Síofra O'Leary, the Irish judge, as the president of the court. That is a tremendous honour. Síofra O'Leary is a very accomplished European lawyer and has a proven track record on the court. It is very welcome that the honour has been bestowed on the Irish judge on the court and that she would be elected president. It is important to point out the ECHR goes beyond the borders of the EU and to the Council of Europe. It is an incredibly important body.

One of the most important things we have done in Ireland in recent times, which I very much welcome, is that the Minister for Foreign Affairs has moved to join a case against Russia under Article 16 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Russia has been excluded from the Council of Europe because of its illegal actions in Ukraine, but there was a six-month window which ran until last Friday within which actions could be taken against Russia in the European court for breaches of the convention. I called in the House on 25 May last year for Ireland to initiate or join such a case. I am delighted the Minister, Deputy Coveney has now done that and we will be part of an action taken by a number of European states against Russia for its egregious breaches of the convention against Ukraine. We know the history of that conflict. We have had Ukrainian MPs here and some of us have visited Ukraine. It is entirely appropriate and laudable that Ireland would join that action and put down a very clear marker that we in no way accept the validity of Russia's actions which were compounded this week by Mr. Putin's support for sham referendums in the occupied territories in Ukraine. I welcome that action by this country. It is part of our proud tradition as part of the Council of Europe. I congratulate the president of the court.