Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the ambassador for her presence and congratulate Estonia on its first term of the EU Presidency. I wish Estonia well. It has a big job ahead in the next six months or so and I wish it the very best of luck.

I am reading through priorities of the Estonian Government which the ambassador has set out in her presentation, starting with the finance model. I am very interested to see a reference to an attempt to finance small start-ups because that is the future of businesses. One thing I have seen both in this country and the United States is the use of microfinance in establishing start-up businesses, but, unfortunately, to move to the next stage, they depend on venture capitalists. We had this discussion last week in Germany, for example. Venture capitalism, taking chances and so on do not rest easily with the Germans and, to a certain degree, we are very limited in this country. I would, therefore, like to see second-tier finance available to small start-ups through the European system. If this were to require the European Union to take some equity in companies as they grew, I am not so sure that would be bad, at least in the initial stages.

The ambassador talked about stable banking. What is it? Does it entail shareholders being satisfied or the needs of the public being met? There has been a dramatic recovery in this country and the Government should be very proud of where we have got to. However, it has not been without significant pain, as the ambassador will know, having lived in the country. I know of a young couple who have paid €82,000 in rent and they are being refused a mortgage by the bank because they have no savings. How are they going to have savings when they are paying such rent? As they have the capacity to repay loans, the banking system must change to meet the needs of society. Perhaps Estonia might consider this issue during its Presidency.

On taxation, the committee has already heard me speak about the corporate entities that move to using cheap labour. The European Union must find a way to tax these companies because they do not drop their prices. They avail of cheap labour, but the price remains the same. A company that manufactures runners or sportsgear in County Meath sells a pair of shoes for, say, €200. It moves its manufacturing base to China and makes the shoes for a fraction of the cost, but it still charges €200 for them. We must find a way to penalise such companies in order that we can invest in the third countries from which there is migration. This is something I would like to see happen and this is the where I talk about Estonia's aspirations to have fair competition. Fair competition can only happen through taxation. If one moves from a country in which labour is expensive to one in which it is cheap, we must equalise the position through the taxation system. That is my view of the direction we should take.

I believe organised crime is a big issue confronting the Estonian Presidency in the first instance. It never ceases to amaze me that the military can co-operate across Europe but that police forces do not necessarily co-operate at the same level, with the result that - the ambassador will know this, having lived here - we have organised crime bosses living in Spain but who are directing operations in this country. We must find a way of working across the European Union to ensure there will be no hiding place for them.

The committee has heard what I have to say on the issue of migration. During its Presidency I hope Estonia can come up with a methodology to allow us to enable but control economic migration because that is the real issue. Refugees account for a very small part of the numbers crossing the Mediterranean. I know that the European Union is doing a lot of work on this issue.

I worry when I read the words "EU-NATO [closeness and] co-operation". Ireland is a neutral country. Any closeness to NATO brings us close to those who have caused the destruction of Syria, Palestine and parts of Iraq and Afghanistan. We see on television the modern cities in Syria that have been razed to the ground with bombs and bullets supplied by the West. More horrific is the fact that we no longer have to risk soldiers' lives on the ground; drones can be sent that are managed somewhere in Texas to bomb the hell out of these countries. Until we stop this from happening, I certainly do not want to see us getting anywhere close to NATO or involved with NATO that believes it is the conscience of the western world. We really do not want that to happen.

I hope to see something to tackle climate change come from Estonia also.