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

I also welcome the Minister of State to the meeting this afternoon. I wish her well in her new brief. By and large, all of us wear the green jersey when it comes to EU affairs. Accordingly, I have no doubt any dialogue we have with the new Minister of State will be constructive and in the national interest.

The White Paper on the Future of Europe was published by the European Commission in March. It set out five possible scenarios, namely, scenario one, carrying on; scenario two, nothing but the Single Market; scenario three, those who want more, do more; scenario four, doing less more efficiently; scenario five, doing much more together. A briefing note from the EU division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, suggests, more or less, that scenario one, carrying on where the EU focuses on the delivery of its positive reform agenda, certainly represents a predictable safe course in the short to medium term. Are we proceeding along these lines? By and large, Ireland has always adopted a pragmatic approach to the European Union and EU negotiations. It seems the Government’s suggestion is to opt for a wait-and-see pragmatic attitude. Is that our position? Have we any firm commitments regarding the future of Europe?

I hope the consultation on the future of Europe will be extensive. There is a danger that this debate will bypass the majority of our citizens. Obviously, this committee will do its bit. Will the Minister of State reassure me that the Government will do its part in promoting a debate on the future of Europe? We must also ensure that the European Commission plays its part in ensuring citizens of Europe engage in this process. The danger is, if a referendum ever comes on aspects of the future of Europe regarding treaty change, that the citizens will not become engaged until a week before polling day. We need to do everything possible to engage citizens in this national and European debate.

I agree with everything stated in the communiqué from the European Council meeting on internal security. We have all been shocked by recent terrorist attacks. The measures proposed at that meeting are to be welcomed. As regards external security, several measures were agreed on defence. The most important one was the establishment of a permanent structured co-operation, PESCO. Over the past few days, The Irish Timesran a series of articles on the future of Europe, which have been useful for this debate. Basically, the articles stated Ireland is enthusiastic about the PESCO initiative, but will not participate in any of the measures proposed or the other measures outlined at the recent European Council meeting. There seems to be a contradiction in that we are enthusiastic about all of these initiatives but will not participate in them. Will the Minister of State clarify our position on this, particularly from the point of view of Irish neutrality?