Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Europe Day 2023 is worth celebrating in Ireland. This year, we are also commemorating the 50th anniversary of our membership of the European Union. In 1972, some 83% of the electorate voted to join the EEC. We have not looked back since. As many have said, our membership was transformative. It literally transformed the economic, social and cultural life of this country. In short, it brought peace, prosperity and progress to our island. A programme of events to mark our 50 years of membership was prepared by the Government. Appropriately, it concludes today: Europe Day.

The EU was, and continues to be, first and foremost a peace project. That is why the Russian invasion of Ukraine is so devastating. It threatens our values and everything we stand for. That is the reason we must face this challenge head on. In that regard, I welcome the latest round of sanctions brought forward by the Commission. Existing sanctions must be enforced by member states and we cannot allow them to be circumvented.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine follows various challenges in recent years with which the EU has dealt with some degree of success. Brexit in 2016 could have led to a break-up of the Union but instead the opposite happened and increased solidarity prevailed. The withdrawal agreement and the trade and co-operation agreement were finalised despite serious political instability in the UK. A Brexit adjustment reserve was established and the creation of a hard border on the island of Ireland was avoided. EU procedures may, at times, seem cumbersome. They are by no means perfect. It can be difficult to get the agreement of all 27 states, but the Union does get there in the end. The Covid-19 pandemic is, thankfully, no longer an emergency. Vaccines were acquired and an unprecedented EU recovery and resilience fund was put in place, among many other measures. That said, we need to acknowledge that the EU does not always get things right. I think, in particular, of the financial crash in 2008, when the Troika forced us to bail out the bondholders and imposed unnecessary austerity on Ireland and Greece. Mistakes were made and lessons were learned. The EU now has the necessary tools to manage such a crisis if, God forbid, it were to happen again.

The EU continues to work through current issues and anticipate future challenges. Enlargement, for example, is an ongoing issue, as Deputy Howlin mentioned. The countries in the western Balkans, North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia all have legitimate aspirations to join the EU, and so too have Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Ireland, as we know, rightly supports enlargement as a general principle. The EU must do everything possible to assist these countries in their endeavours. The politics and geopolitics of their cases need to be taken into account but at the same time, there can be no backsliding with respect to liberal democratic values and the rule of law. Those values include fundamental human rights, free and fair elections, a free press, ethics in politics and judicial independence, to name just a few.

The EU is to the fore in tackling climate change, with the so-called green deal aiming to achieve a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and setting us on a path to reach net-zero emissions not later than 2050, or as the Taoiseach has said, to become the first climate neutral continent by 2050. The deal is complemented by a new objective to eliminate our dependence on Russian oil and gas, and fossil fuels generally, with an increased focus now being put on the importance of renewables. In this country, focus is being put on the importance of wind energy, in particular.

There is also the geopolitical situation to consider. The world is becoming more and more dangerous by the day. There is conflict between autocracies and democracies. The EU talks of strategic autonomy and the need to de-risk in respect of China. The EU's Common Security and Defence Policy is constantly evolving and Ireland must respond to that.

The issue of migration continues to exercise the EU. A new pact on migration and asylum has yet to be agreed, and that is proving a challenge for the 27 EU member states. Conflict and persecution, poverty, food insecurity and climate change drive people to move to other countries for safety and a better life. The EU must be to the fore in providing increased support for these regions. I think in particular of Africa. Potential migrants must be offered a future where they live so they are not forced to undertake desperate journeys across the Mediterranean Sea in an effort to reach Europe. The elimination of global inequality is in everyone's interest and it is also a moral imperative.

I was struck by what the Ceann Comhairle said this morning when he officially opened an exhibition here in Leinster House commemorating Ireland's 50 years of membership of the EU. He pointed out that Ireland has contributed much to the development of the modern European Union. There was a time when, for some, the EU was all about how much money we could get in structural and cohesion funding, and, of course, Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, payments have also been very important for this country. However, we know the European Union is about much more than that. Ireland is at the heart of Europe and we have much to contribute as regards finding solutions to the many challenges confronting us. We bring our unique experience and history to the table in respect of conflict resolution and so many other areas. That is something which strengthens the European Union and benefits all of us.

Europe Day allows us to reflect on all of these matters. As a previous speaker said, perhaps Europe Day is going unnoticed by many in Europe but it does allow all of us parliamentarians to reflect on the European Union, what it stands for and where it is going. We have a lot to celebrate today, while at the same time we need to recognise there is always room for improvement, that the EU is not perfect and that we must constantly strive to ensure it continues to work for the citizens of Europe and that it is responsive to their everyday needs and aspirations.

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