Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will begin with an issue I accidentally omitted in my first round of answers relating to the question of voting rights. The first point is that this is an area of national competence in terms of how it is organised and provided to the citizens of each country. I am aware of the report mentioned. I am also aware of the fact that the Constitutional Convention is doing work in this area and that it has made recommendations on how we could change or improve our situation. That will be the subject of debate.

Deputy Dara Murphy raised several issues. I represent a constituency that was flooded in 2010 and I have first-hand experience of the devastation that people are going through as well as the extraordinary stress on people when this happens. I know it is an extremely difficult time for the people in Deputy Murphy's constituency and for all the others who have endured the devastation inflicted upon them. In my contribution earlier, I referred to the fact that I have heard a discussion taking place publicly regarding whether an application would go in from the Government in respect of supporting work that needs to be done. Certainly, if I can give any help to that cause I will do so because I have first-hand experience of the stress people are feeling at the moment and the havoc that has been wreaked upon their homes and lives.

I acknowledge the Deputy's point on languages, although it is not one I have considered before. I am aware of a similar issue in a different area, that is, the practice of law. One of the areas of speciality for which there is a significant demand is that of lawyer linguists, people who have the ability to draft law, which by its nature is technical, in different languages. I acknowledge the point that perhaps we should consider the same approach in respect of engineering and science.

A point was made about the compatibility of national budgetary systems and processes with the European semester. My understanding is that due to the changes made to bring our budget back to October, we are fitting in to the budgetary architecture which the European semester, the two pack and all the other measures require of us. Perhaps at the tail end of the meeting I will get some more observations from the Deputy in respect of how we might be out of sync. My understanding is that the changes we have made bring us into the framework where we need to be.

A point was made regarding the role of committees. I would actively encourage this committee and other committees to consider the work that will take place on the drafting of the national reform plan, which will be discussed during March, April and May. What role can committees play? I believe this committee can and should play a constructive role and I encourage the members to think about it. My recollection is that this is something the committee was examining but I believe it is worthy of bringing to a conclusion in the coming weeks.

Deputy Durkan made several points. He touched on the question of genetically modified organisms and asked a specific question on the role of stakeholders. I assure Deputy Durkan that the Environmental Protection Agency, our key stakeholder in this area, has been intimately involved in our evaluation of these crops and the associated issues. The agency has played a direct role in informing the national position on the issue. We are very much aware of the sensitivities on the matter at home and in other countries. The committee will be aware that, with the exception of one test that is taking place at the moment, we are not growing genetically modified crops in the country. However, many of the foodstuffs being used within our agricultural communities contain GM products. The Environmental Protection Agency has been directly involved in stakeholder consultation.

A point was raised about energy. The simple answer to that question is "Yes". All the points the Deputy asked to be raised will be actively considered and raised by us. I offer one example of this work, that is, the increased recognition evident in the European Commission proposals on the role of agriculture in emissions and the associated impacts.

We all worked hard on that issue to ensure that greater recognition would be given, and that has happened. We will continue to pursue other matters to which the Deputy referred in that vein. The Deputy also made a point about economic and financial spheres and policy areas. We will continue to raise issues that are very important to our country, such as the agreement on banking union and the role the EU can play on job creation, to which Deputy Crowe alluded.

The UK position on enlargement is related to who could be forming the next government there and what might happen in the next parliament. The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrat Party have articulated views in that respect. We are very aware of that. It is a matter of significant interest for Ireland, due to the consequences it could have for us, and it is something that I have now addressed in a number of public contributions in other countries, as well as here at home. I want our principles to be very clear on this issue, which I believe they are. The Government's view is that our future is firmly within the European Union, and there is no ambiguity about that. As long as the Irish people give their consent to that, either through general elections or through the ballot box in whatever way, that is the position of this Government and hopefully of future governments as well.

Deputy Crowe raised a number of different issues. We need to be very clear that for all the discussion we hear about things like the digital economy and pharmaceuticals and so on, we need to have diversified sources of job growth. Out of the six million jobs lost in Europe during the crisis, under 4 million of them have been within manufacturing. If we want to get those 4 million people back to work, they have to be in jobs which they are skilled to do or can be retrained to do. A clear example of that is in respect of the role of the European Investment Bank in Ireland at the moment. The amount of investment that bank has put into our country has quadrupled in recent years, and we can see the fruits of that with people working on the Grangegorman DIT campus and on the new Luas line across Dublin.

Deputy Crowe made about a point about institutional churn. The change we are talking about is not happening as a result of what might happen in the European Parliament elections, or what might happen following the appointment of new Commissioners. We are talking about the career cycle and the life cycle of people who are in those institutions at the moment and who are either retiring or going on to do different things. It is not related to the political cycle that we were discussing earlier on. That is why we are putting effort into that at the moment. The Greek Presidency is focusing heavily on the type of growth that can occur, because unfortunately they have a very deep understanding of the difficulty that the economic crisis has caused. Through our action plan on jobs, we will continue to do the same. We need to have diversified sources of job creation to reflect the fact that not everybody will want to work in Google or be able to work in Google, or in any company like that. We need to reflect that in the training that we have within our economy.

Migration and fleeing from conflicts are issues that have received increased prominence due to the terrible difficulties in other countries to which Deputy Crowe referred. They were the subject of significant discussion at the last European Council meeting. The European Council agreed a number of measures on the increased role of bodies like Frontex, which is a co-ordinating cross-national body that examines how different countries police their borders. There is a task force in place on this, and it will produce some recommendations to look at the issues to which the Deputy referred. The European Council and the Justice and Home Affairs Council of Ministers will then have a discussion on how we can deal with this. There are many countries that are currently bearing a very heavy burden due to their location and they want to initiate a discussion on how this can be dealt with in the future. We will participate in such a discussion. We are all aware of some of the sensitivities on this issue, but Ireland has shown itself to be capable of responding to humanitarian crises across Europe and elsewhere. Deputy Byrne spoke about the role we played in the conflict in Bosnia Herzegovina and the break up of the former Yugoslavia. We will certainly participate constructively in any discussions on that.