Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Our guests raised fascinating and interesting points. Ireland has a great relationship with France, which it wishes to build and develop. We also have a great relationship with our next door neighbour, England, which we also wish to develop.

Just as France has a common interest with us, for example, in the agricultural field, we have a very important relationship with England which is now worrying us in the context of its position on Europe. Just as we have friendships in many ways, we did not have that great a friendship with the French position of Sarkozy or with the Germans who attempted to sideline and attack us because we have our own national taxation code. It has been mentioned here and it has been mentioned in America. We believe our tax code is beyond criticism in so far as it is open to anyone who wishes to see it. It is based on legislation and there are no special deals for anyone. We have our interest because we are an island nation. The witness mentioned the French potential veto of any EU-US trade relationship that is evolving quickly. We see it as very important in so far as we would see Ireland as a bridge between Europe and the US for the transfer of goods and investment and vice versa.

We may have problems in agreeing some of these measures. Obviously, our most recent disagreement was between our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade on sanctions for Syria. I understand where the witnesses are coming from, in that France is a very large arms producing nation and has decided, along with Britain, not to go along the European path. While we will not be exporting arms, it is still a big disappointment for us as I understand 25 nations stood with us while France and Britain stood alone.

The witness mentioned that the European Parliament had not sanctioned the European budget and said she was not satisfied that it was sufficiently large. We agree. However, as one sees the evolution of the political climate in Europe, Mr. Cameron publicly applauded the reduction of the European budget as a victory for England. There are friendships that come into conflict and others that do not. We are not part of the Schengen area and, as a nation, we are ardently pro-European. We test our electorate now and again. Our Constitution obliges us to put very important and complex issues to the electorate and we are happy that on each occasion - maybe not the first time every time - we bring the people with us.

I am aware that Ms Danielle Auroi serves on the committee of foreign affairs in the French National Assembly. I am fascinated by the French position on Turkey and the Armenian massacre given that we are speaking to Turkey with a view to enlargement of the European Union. Does she think that is an important issue for France? Given that she is from a colonial power and multicultural society, presumably a contributing factor being its former colonies, what is the French position on the wearing of the hijab and the burka? Given that we are talking about Turkey being a predominantly Muslim country, are we facilitating an understanding among the Turkish electorate and politicians that they are welcome? I understand that Sarkozy might not have recognised Turkey as being a European country.

I applaud the French decision to move rapidly into the Sahel area of Mali and I understand it has a great fear of jihadists. An open debate will have to take place in Europe about the jihadists. I congratulate the French on being bold enough to make that independent decision to move to inflict damage on the jihadists who were heading to Bamako.

We agree on many things and we disagree on some. We agree with England on many things and we disagree on many. We have a strong independent political philosophy when it comes to the United States. We love the Americans but we have our own independent foreign policy. I thank the witnesses for their praise of Ireland's Presidency. As a collective, we are extremely proud of the hard work put in by our Prime Minister and Ministers. We concluded the Common Fisheries Policy agreement last night. We hope the budgetary position and other unfinished business will be resolved during our Presidency.