Micheál Martin

Some countries support Israel but not all do. Many EU member states do not, and that number is increasing. We just need to keep working. The pressure has to be on Israel, not on Ireland and not on other governments that are doing everything they can to put the pressure on Israel.

It is just a fair point. I have made this point repeatedly.

On a separate question, Deputy Murphy raised the issue of autonomy. It is kind of a paradoxical proposition he put to me, because he said we have the lowest level of local autonomy and at the same time is asking me to intervene in what councils are doing.

There are various frameworks. We cannot have it both ways and we tend to have it both ways. We just had a debate this afternoon on derelict sites and all of that and everybody was saying it is all our fault. You cannot have it both ways and then say, in respect of this, that we should intervene and essentially take over the powers of local authority executives, or indeed councillors, for that reas…

I do not have the specifics of it but-----

No.

No, but you want me to intervene.

I will speak through the Chair.

Deputy Ó Murchú also raised the EU-Israel Association Agreement and the occupied territories BiIl. Again, I did get it on the agenda of the European Council meeting this week. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, also has raised it repeatedly at FAC, and we will continue to do that. In terms of Deputy Quaide-----

Sorry?

All right. Deputy Quaide referred to 500 Ukrainians. Have they received notice? I will talk to the Minister in respect of that. There is a significant number there and, obviously, the impacts for the children will be significant. I will revert to the Deputy. As Deputy Quaide acknowledged in the question, there are issues in terms of commercial premises, the costs involved and the sustainability o…

Interoperability is a long-standing principle. If we operate in places like Lebanon on peacekeeping missions, we require interoperability. Currently in Lebanon, we are with Polish troops in IRISHPOLBATT, some Hungarian troops and some Maltese who train in Ireland. Our roles, as Deputy Tóibín knows, are always peacekeeping, peace monitoring, civilian support and so on like that. I do not see any co…

Deputy Coppinger asked a philosophical question. She could have asked it a century ago as to whether there should be a millionaire. Of course, a lot of this trillionaire stuff is on paper. America has its system and Ireland has its system. We have a fairly progressive taxation system in Ireland where the highest paid by a long shot - the top 5% - pay nearly 50% of all income tax. I can check that …

We do not have any trillionaire.

I am not being facetious but what Deputy Coppinger is asking is whether someone should take all of the wealth at some stage. We have a different view of the creation of wealth and so on. I was at an event recently honouring Chuck Feeney. He got rid of all of his wealth in an altruistic and philanthropic approach. He made it his aim to get rid of all his wealth before he died. Ireland's universitie…

It is a bit more complex than we have time to discuss.

Deputy Roderic O'Gorman spoke about Bosnia-Herzegovina and its succession path to the European Union is a bit more complex than others. There are challenges within Bosnia-Herzegovina, particularly Republika Srpska in terms of how it is operating. We will work with it to try to progress the application. Deputy Shane Moynihan spoke about competitiveness. A roadmap has been agreed between the Counci…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for his latitude.

I apologise. I have been raising Sudan consistently at European Union meetings. It is shocking and horrific and it has not got the same international attention or profile as other wars have. The level of human displacement in Sudan is quite shocking. I have called on some of the neighbouring states that are arming the different belligerents to stop because there is too much external manipulation o…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 to 43, inclusive, together. The Government published our new national digital and AI strategy, a commitment in the programme for Government, in February. Digital Ireland – Connecting our People, Securing our Future sets out the Government's ambition to 2030 to strengthen Ireland's position as a digital leader and a global hub for applied AI innovation. Through …

I thank all of the Deputies who raised various issues. I think the common denominator among all the contributions is the issue of protecting children, in particular, from the very harmful effects of social media. I understand and share parents’ concerns about the damage being done to children by social media. It was not today or yesterday that I described it as "the public health [challenge] of ou…

It was actually over two years ago when I made that very point at our own Ard-Fheis in terms of the challenges. There is no question that it is harming cognitive development and making many children’s lives much more challenging, difficult and, in some cases, miserable. It can facilitate bullying and much worse. It is ruining childhoods for too many children, so action needs to be taken. I respec…

There was not a better way of doing it. Deputy Tóibín was at it as well.

Through the Chair, we need to be consistent on this. It worked.

It was impactful and it was a start in getting young people out of utilisation. By the way, all of the Deputies should leave their phones outside the Dáil. Let us start here. We are talking about the pervasive impact. All of the Deputies have mobile phones.