Aughinish Alumina jobs and trade measures
Deputy Bacik sought stronger action concerning Aughinish Alumina and suspension of the EU trade agreement with Israel. The Taoiseach rejected criticism of Ireland’s position and said the Government would work with the European Commission while considering the jobs at stake.
I would appreciate a response on my point on Aughinish Alumina. I acknowledge, as does the Labour Party, the strong steps Ireland has taken at international level in support of the rights of the people of Palestine. I welcome the Taoiseach’s confirmation that he has been engaging with Kaja Kallas on the suspension of the trade agreement. That is welcome but there is more that can be done. I am looking at the recent report by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestine. She has identified Ireland as one of 63 countries which she says are complicit in the collective crime of genocide in Gaza. That is a devastatingly serious charge. Clearly, there is much more we can do, and I have outlined some of the measures the Labour Party is calling on the Government to take.
On the football game, of course there are complexities but it was a Fianna Fáil Government in 1999 that took a strong stance against Yugoslavia, and rightly so, after the ethic cleansing it carried out in Bosnia and Kosovo. That was a strong stance taken in the context of an international football game. Many of us remember that. That is the stance that football fans and others are now calling on the Government to take in this case.
Comment on this
I reject what Francesca Albanese said. I have significant issues with much of what she has said on this issue, in terms of Ireland in particular.
We will work with the European Commission in respect of Aughinish. The Deputy said many jobs are at stake and a solution must be found. Let all of us be honest in the House. We will work with the Commission. We are conscious that there are about 1,000 people directly depending on it from a jobs perspective. It is not going to be simple. If a call is made one way or the other, the repercussions will be what they will be. I do not think the Deputy should try to sugar-coat it to say there is a magical way to find a solution to this, and everything will be all right on the other side. We are not in that space. We will engage with the European Commission because there was a view that Aughinish is important for the alumina supply chain in Europe. It is a European competency. Europe decides what gets sanctioned and Europe decides what we do not put on the sanctions list. Europe did not put alumina on the sanctions list, no more than it put-----