Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending. It is a pleasure to meet him. He is very eloquent and captures the sorts of areas that are important in a prospective member of the EU. Turkey is a country of 75 million people with a very big landmass. It is the pivotal point between East and West and the landmasses of Europe and Asia. It has long traditions and has had great democratic developments in recent times. It has enormous patience - some 53 years represents two generations in family terms. It has an interesting economy. There is now a net inflow of migration rather than the outflows of the 1960s to Germany and other countries.

That shows an evolution towards enlargement of the population of the family of Europe within a peacetime resonance. It is a task to be addressed by us in Europe and following the distractions and tensions of what has been at play for the past three or four years since the financial crisis and the eurozone's problems, it could bring a new energy. I liked the way the Minister spoke about the neighbourhood of Cyprus because that is what it is. It is two communities of different traditions in the neighbourhood of the islands of Greece and the large landmass of Turkey. I encourage the Minister to continue the work. I say to my European colleagues that they should warm the invitation and get down to the practicalities of creating the framework for an enlarged family. I wish the Turkish delegation well in their visit here and their work on the mainland of Europe.