Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

I welcome the Minister of State's intention to visit. I am glad the Department officials have visited those refugees. The humanitarian situation on the ground could potentially escalate even further. Even if the UN reaches its appeal for €2.9 billion, that will only reach 20 million of the 33 million people needing humanitarian assistance. That is the scale of the humanitarian crisis, of hunger an…

That would certainly be one of the asks. There are two layers to it. Obviously, the arms embargo is not fully effective by any means as things stand. We must always have hope but it is difficult not to be pessimistic when both actors in the conflict feel they can win and, therefore, the prospects for peace in that context are constrained. Dialogue needs to be at the centre of what the Government a…

58. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the current progress of the drafting of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (prohibition of importation of goods) Bill 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8759/26]

On that last question, I might just say that individual cases do not necessarily preclude the Irish Government from representing a category generally speaking and that should always be the case. I cannot make up my mind as to what the Government intends to do with the occupied territories Bill. Does it intend to drop it entirely? Does it intend to water it down? Does it intend to put it on the lo…

The key principle that underlines the occupied territories Bill is that the International Court of Justice case clearly states that trade with those occupied territories is illegal. The position of the Department of foreign affairs and the Government has always been that we should not trade with these territories. I see no reason that there should not be a criminal sanction for those who choose to…

That raises a few questions. On the implementation, I have never received a satisfactory answer to this. The practical effect of the implementation is very similar to the preparation that would have been required for the implementation of the similar ban on trade with the territories of Ukraine that are currently occupied by Russia. It is absolutely right that those sanctions were put in place, bu…

It is very clear that the Spanish legislation goes into the area of services, the extent of which we can perhaps consider further. For example, due to the Spanish legislation, some rental companies been forced to remove the advertisement of the letting of properties in these occupied territories. Therefore, it is clearly having an effect. If EU law prevented member states from intervening in the a…

Eight years is plenty of time.

I welcome the comments by the Minister of State and the question. It is important that support is provided for organisations such as the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. The statistics from the survey are concerning. Unfortunately, they reflect similarly concerning findings, perhaps worse findings, in other jurisdictions. Clearly, it is important that the message goes out from all sides of these Ho…

I had another question on this, which probably will not be reached. I have to say a couple of things. First, the Irish Government has historically had a strong position in relation to this. I ask the Minister of State to maintain that and to maintain support for Sahrawi self-determination. On a minor note - it may not be minor in some respects - I do not agree with the framing of the SADR as "the …

I would encourage the Deputy not to.

I probably just addressed it. I had not anticipated this question would come up. It is on the same matter so I have probably addressed the point. I am satisfied to pass on it.

Two things occur to me in relation to this Bill, which I strongly oppose. It is a very dangerous Bill that will cause huge hardship for an awful lot of people. Listening to some of the contributions over the course of this afternoon, I have felt like I am in a parallel universe. The first thing to say is that there must be prioritisation here. There must be a recognition of what is fundamental her…

There have been plans in recent years to do with the national development plan, the national spatial strategy and so on. What a lot of them have in common is the prediction that Cork is likely to be fastest growing urban area in the State over the course of the next 15 to 20 years. For that to happen and for Cork to reach its fullest potential, we know that the infrastructure is needed. More than …

A little under two years ago, when the EU migration pact was being debated, it was an almost cavalier attitude by the Minister at the time. I understand that migration and the whole issue around international protection is complex. It was particularly challenging at the time when there was a significant increase. However, it seemed to be the attitude of the then Minister, in response to questions …

Táimid ag caint go príomha faoin leasú. I speak primarily regarding our amendment to this motion, which sums up our view of this proposition. Almost four years ago Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation engaged in an act of aggression and imperialist expansion against Ukraine and its people. We have since seen appalling atrocities at Bucha, Zaporizhzhia and Mariupol, attacks on civilian infrast…

Beimid ag tacú leis an mBille cé go mbeimid ag iarraidh roinnt leasuithe a dhéanamh chuige. Anything that improves the functioning of our care system is to be welcomed, although it is very likely we will table amendments. I echo the call made by Deputy Kerrane on engaging with guardians ad litem and their representative organisation. They do a crucial job. A decade ago we had a referendum the purp…

I welcome the opportunity to speak about this issue. I am sure we are sitting here and an interesting or noteworthy speech - I am not sure which it is being called - is happening as we speak but I am unlikely to be the last person to reference Mark Carney's speech at Davos yesterday. It certainly caught the attention and perhaps a certain spirit of the time. Time will tell whether his perspective …

I have already spoken.

It is vitally important that we do not take carers and care workers for granted. Too often that is the case. Regarding carers themselves, there was an awful lot of talk about that in the general election. What has happened since then has not been anywhere near what was committed to. We are very lucky in this country that we have such a strength in terms of family carers who are willing to offer su…

This Topical Issue relates to Coláiste Daibhéid and its application under the additional school accommodation scheme. It is important to be open and honest in this place, and I declare an interest. This is where I attended secondary school and it is also where our 14-year-old currently attends in third year. All the same, the issue is substantial and it needs to be addressed because it has been ca…

I appreciate the update. I hoped for a bit more regarding when we might get through the next phase. I appreciate that the Minister of State's Department does not have responsibility in that regard. I would appreciate if he could, on my behalf, bring this matter to the attention of the Minister. I note the presence of my constituency colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, who is also kee…

I have two minutes, so I will make three quick points to the Minister but I want to make the general point that when we are talking about water, we should take stock of the picture internationally because there are so many examples of situations where privatisation has led to absolute chaos. We have seen this very clearly in relation to Thames Water. I know that privatisation is not on the agenda …

These debates on the European Council are a useful opportunity to articulate many issues in the world. Unfortunately, ten minutes would hardly be enough now; 20 minutes would suffice. I want to start by saying how disappointed I am that the European Council spent so little time discussing the biggest conflict in the world at this moment in time, namely, Sudan. It is a conflict that has seen perha…

Absolutely, yes. I have acknowledged that and I agree with that but we also have to acknowledge that for other jurisdictions, including Ukraine, Greenland, Denmark and all those other countries I referenced, there has been a precedent set. Regardless of whether the Irish Government likes a particular government, it has to acknowledge that a precedent has been set. If it does not speak out in respe…