Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask that we have a debate with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, on businesses that are still trading with Russia. We had news last week that Pernod Ricard restarted selling Jameson whiskey in Russia since last September. Sean Pollock from the Sunday Independent had a very revealing story. Since September, Jameson has sold almost €16 million of product into Russia while the war is going on. Pernod Ricard made a big announcement. This was a decision made in a board room in France, it was not made by anyone here in Ireland and would never have been made by anyone in Ireland. It is important to state that when it announced over a year ago that it was ceasing trade with Russia, it still had product in Russia that was circulating and being sold internally, which is fine. The ironic thing, which is not coincidental at all, is that all of the Jameson product was finished in September. It then restarted selling Jameson in September. Essentially, Pernod Ricard has never ceased selling Jameson in Russia while the war has been going on. It put out a statement last week where it was very adamant in its opposition to the war but not enough that it is willing to cease trading with Russia. This is really detrimental to it as a business but also to us as a nation. There are very few brands in Ireland that are so recognisable around the world as an Irish product. There are loads of Irish businesses but very few with the international stature that Jameson has. This has a detrimental impact on us and how we are perceived. We already have a Ukrainian MP, Lesia Vasylenko, who was in Strasbourg last Friday talking to a group of MPs in the European Union, asking that the 1,200 companies that are selling into Russia be stopped immediately by the European Union. She named Jameson as one of those companies. This is going way beyond us. I would also ask that we find out what other companies in Ireland are still selling into Russia. It is utterly unacceptable and cannot be justified in any way.