Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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818. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30438/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 7 June 2022 I visited Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden. While there I met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Finland, Mr Pekka Haavisto.

During our meeting, I discussed Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the security situation in Europe, Ireland’s Presidency of the UN Security Council and the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Ireland and Finland are like-minded, partnership-orientated EU member states. As Europe faces the challenge of Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine and its resulting impacts, this was an important opportunity to meet bilaterally, in complement to our meetings in EU formats, to ensure a full understanding of the situation and context across the EU.

The visit to FInland was an opportunity to discuss and highlight Ireland’s continuing solidarity and support of Ukraine. Our focus remains on responding to the conflict, in particular through efforts to ease the plight of the Ukrainian people and to hold the Russian leadership to account. I also discussed with Minister Haavisto Ireland’s position in favour of the strongest possible sanctions against Russia, and our support for Ukraine’s application to join the European Union.

The visit also came following the application of Finland to join NATO, made alongside Sweden on 18 May 2022. This application is indicative of the wider change in the security situation across Europe. It is the clear right of every sovereign and independent State to choose their own foreign policy and to ensure the security and defence of their territories. I assured Minister Haavisto that Ireland supports Finland in making those choices.

Ireland and Finland are both committed to a well-functioning system of multilateralism and are committed UN member states. During our meeting we also discussed Ireland’s current membership of the UN Security Council and the importance of the rules based international order.

We also had the opportunity to discuss in more detail the EU-UK relationship and the current situation in respect of the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, how we support the Commission in continuing to seek dialogue with the UK and we encourage the UK to respond with a similar approach.

Ireland and Finland are this year celebrating 60 years of Diplomatic Relations and this meeting was an opportunity to mark that anniversary in person, and to commit to ongoing strong and positive relations between our countries, including as Ireland implements the Nordic Strategy which was published on 1 June 2021. It was also an opportunity to thank Minister Haavisto in person for the assistance provided by Finland to Ireland during the evacuation from Afghanistan in late summer 2021.

In addition to my meeting with Minister Haavisto, while in Helsinki I also met with the Minister of Defence of Finland, Antti Kaikkonen and visited the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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819. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his meeting with Sweden’s Foreign Minister; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30440/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 7 June 2022 I visited Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden. While in Stockholm, I met with Ms Ann Linde, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

During our meeting we discussed Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the security situation in Europe, Ireland’s Presidency of the UN Security Council, the Northern Ireland Protocol and Sweden’s upcoming Presidency of the European Union.

Ireland and Sweden are like-minded and partnership-orientated EU member states. This was an important opportunity to meet bilaterally, to complement our regular meetings in EU formats and ensure a full understanding of perspectives and dynamics across the EU in terms of our collective response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

The meeting was an opportunity to discuss and highlight Ireland’s continuing solidarity and support for Ukraine. Our focus remains on responding to the impacts of the conflict, in particular through efforts to ease the plight of the Ukrainian people and to promote full accountability. I also discussed with Minister Linde Ireland’s position in favour of the strongest possible sanctions against Russia, and our support for Ukraine’s application to join the European Union.

The visit also came following the application of Sweden to join NATO, made alongside Finland on 18 May 2022. This application is indicative of the significance of the challenge to the European security order following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. As I made clear, it is the right of every sovereign and independent State to choose their own foreign policy and to ensure the security and defence of their territories.

During the meeting I had the opportunity to discuss in more detail the EU-UK relationship and the current situation in respect of the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland; our support for the Commission in continuing to seek dialogue with the UK and we encourage the UK to respond with a similar approach. I welcomed Sweden’s solid and ongoing support for the EU position and the negotiating approach by the Commission.

The visit to Stockholm was an opportunity to re-iterate my welcome for the decision by the Swedish government to re-open its Embassy in Dublin later this year. This will undoubtedly further strengthen the warm bilateral relationship in the years ahead., particularly as we work on implementing Ireland’s Nordic Strategy.

While in Stockholm I also met with the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament (Riksdag), Kenneth Forslund and Hans Wallmark, Foreign Affairs Spokesman for the opposition Moderate party.