Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Kiely to the committee and thank him for his presentation. I hope he does not take personally what I have to say. He is a representative here doing a job. The opening statement on the yellow sheet carries the heading, "A Europe that preserves our way of life and empowers our young". However, do we want to preserve the way of life we have slipped into as a result of mismanagement of the economy not only in Ireland but right across Europe and right across the western world? We have thrown our young onto the scrapheap. At least two generations will suffer as a result of what has happened. I do not want to see the way of life we have created for them preserved. Mr. Kiely will forgive me for saying this but these documents were prepared by somebody somewhere in the annals of the European Union and they contain all this grand flowery language, but we have failed people.

My colleague spoke about the rise of populism. Populism arose because there was a vacuum. We have lost the support of the people, the ordinary Joe Soap on the ground. They have no faith in politics or in politicians. We get countless attacks on social media, and I am sure the same is the case for Mr. Kiely in his job, referring to us as wasters and having our noses in the trough. We can understand where that criticism comes from when we see the way we have wrecked lives right across Europe, which is another issue we have to discuss.

With respect to the grand idea that we would have an integrated digital Single Market, if a person drives 80 miles north of here, the moment he or she hits the Border, he or she will find how integrated our digital markets are. That person's phone will switch over to another network and he or she will have to pay roaming charges. That will not get any easier as Brexit comes down the line. There has been a singular failure there.

We talk about building a deeper and fairer Internal Market. I will give Mr. Kiely an example of how fair the Internal Market is. A colleague of mine who suffers from blood pressure problems buys his drugs in Lanzarote. He told me he paid €10.95 for a year's supply of drugs that would cost him €1,024 in Ireland. I cannot verify that but if we are to have a Single Market, I should be able to buy a McDonald's burger in Madrid for the same price I would buy it in Berlin, Amsterdam and Dublin. Similarly, I should be able to buy my medical prescriptions in any country in the European Union for exactly the same cost. Why is it that the Single Market works in some areas and does not necessarily work in other areas? I know Mr. Kiely's background is in agriculture and he will have seen the Single Market work in agriculture to some degree. It has not favoured all of the agricultural sector and it certainly has not favoured the fisheries sector. On the notion that we will have a fairer market, I will know there is a fairer market when the price of a blood pressure tablet is the same in Europe no matter where I go. That, for me, is what would signify a deeper, fairer market.

We talk about an energy strategy, but we have been mucking about for God knows how long about the North-South interconnector. I know that does not necessarily fall into Mr. Kiely's lap, but it is a project for which funding no doubt will come from the European Union. That will probably be lost because of the mucking about there is now with Brexit coming down the line, which is a huge problem.

Mr. Kiely's statement covered strengthening our trade defence instruments. That suggests there is a veiled threat that we will see the return of tariffs and so on as Brexit flows through. Mr. Kiely might address that. I am sorry for coming at him like this on these elements.

On the security issue, I can understand how we would want a single point of purchase for military equipment but I would have to agree with my colleague in questioning why there is an emphasis on purchasing military might when thousands of people across Europe are unemployed and when we cannot manage our hospitals and that is not only the case in Ireland. I was watching proceedings in the UK yesterday. The UK is still a member of the European Union. I heard that maternity services there are falling to pieces because they do not have the resources to deal with them. I am sure the position is no different across the European Union.

On the element of strengthening Europe's role as a global actor, I have serious concerns about the way we in the West, and I include Europe and the United States in this, think we know what is best for the Syria, north Africa and various other places. If we had invested properly in north Africa, people would not want to run out of it. There are many economic migrants from there, aside from those who are fleeing war-torn countries. When we consider war-torn countries like Syria, we armed them, we gave them the weapons and trained them in how to use them, and then when they turned them on their own people, we armed the resistance groups. We have a massive amount to pay. If Europe was to take a global role, it might take a global role based on the Irish peacekeeping role and not become an aggressor.

We talk about having fairer taxation systems. This country alone is bleeding somewhere between €250 million and €350 million a year through vulture funds that have been allowed in here. They were allowed in because we had to sell off the resources of this country to save the euro. The European system was no friend to Ireland when the crash came. The European system hung this country out to dry and has made us pay through the nose for it. I would love to see the solidarity mentioned in this document and shared responsibility coming into play, but I do not see that happening.

Unlike some of my colleagues, I will say something about Brexit. We need to step up to the plate, take a leading role and tell the 26 member states what is acceptable for us. I hate to say this as a committed European, but the 26 member states need to take account of our special position, in particular with the North of Ireland, and there can be no Border and no change to the circumstances in which we currently live. I have to be able to sit in my car and drive to any part of Northern Ireland without encountering any delays or stops. The time has come, and I hope Mr. Kiely will bring this point back to the Commission, where Ireland is a special case, the North of Ireland is a special case and we cannot and will not tolerate any situation which will force us back to the old days of the Border and Border controls because if we do, there is a likelihood that we will start to talk about an NIexit. I do not want the voice of the NIexit group to grow any louder than it currently is. Some 41% of our agricultural output and 35% of our textiles and leather output go the UK and 60,000 people have emigrated to the UK between 2011 and 2013. I do not know how many thousands of Irish people are in the UK.

There are approximately 25,000 people from the United Kingdom living in this country. Our two economies have been inextricably linked for over 800 years. One hundred years ago, we decided we were a republic on our own. As citizens of a republic, we cannot be in circumstances in which we are subservient to the United Kingdom or the other member states as we move into Brexit. As a good partner and friend of Europe, Ireland must be recognised by the European Union as having a unique problem. The EU member states should gather around behind us and help us with the Northern Border.

I am sorry for rattling on a bit. I thank Mr. Kiely for his time and for attending today.