Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not known for my brevity but I will do my best. Like Senator Leyden, I welcome Dr. Ivory and his colleagues to the meeting and compliment IBEC on the continuously and consistently positive role it has played in the commercial life of this country and in its relations with other European and non-European countries. IBEC continues this role, which is a theme that runs through this report. I take this opportunity to compliment IBEC and the business sector for the ability they have shown to identify the issues, never to be negative and to put forward suggestions in a way that makes it possible for them to be accepted by others. I wish to go quickly through the positive reforms to which we will all contribute and the need to recognise the needs of individual member states. The only downside of this is that if we resort to the individual preferences of all member states, it will be very difficult to find a consensus. I emphasise that in those areas there is a tendency for member states - and the people within member states - to adopt a them-and-us attitude and, instead of taking ownership of the European project, to stand offside and consider Europe as if it is something they should criticise from without as opposed to reforming it positively, like IBEC does, from within.

I have similar concerns about the common consolidated corporate tax base, CCCTB. I hope it is not the thin end of the wedge to target individual member states, particularly smaller ones like Ireland. I am concerned that, for example, an area that is recognised as the total preserve of the individual member state has now been dragged into the area of competition and state aid and is being examined by other EU Commissioners. We know there is a report pending which will have an impact in respect of the so-called Apple tax. Unfortunately, there seems to be a jealously of the 12.5% corporation profits tax this country has enjoyed and promoted recently - indeed, promoted for other countries. We do not wish to restrict it to ourselves. This is very important because the smaller countries have difficulty enough competing with their bigger brothers. In the old days, the bilateral trade agreements always benefited the bigger countries. That was the way it was. A certain well-known global politician some time ago said it is a good deal when his country wins. That does not augur so well for the trade negotiations which we hope will be positive.

Dr. Ivory's comments on the MFF are correct. We need to keep the pillars in place that have worked well and on which we depend and not to allow ourselves to be hustled by those who might suggest to us that it is not democratic or that it does not give us all the same chance. Each individual member state across Europe has different requirements, and that is as it should be because they are in different geographic locations. For example, it is not so easy for us to get through the centre of Europe without taking an aircraft or a ship. Most other European countries, with the exception of the one that is now leaving, do not have this problem at all. It is of huge economic benefit to be able to sit into a truck and drive where one wants to drive to, even outside the Union if necessary, to Moscow and so on. We cannot do that. We should never allow it to be underestimated that we are an island nation which, it appears, will be located off the coast of another island that will no longer be a member of the European Union.

The final point I wish to make concerns Brexit. I compliment IBEC's comments on this and references to it in the report. I believe that the Irish economy has the resilience, the ability and the stability to meet the challenges ahead. There are challenges ahead, but I believe we can meet them. We must be cautious and careful not to take steps which might damage our competitiveness and our access to the European markets and might bring us back to a greater dependability on our next-door neighbour, notwithstanding the good relation we have with it and the need to keep that good relationship in the future. It is of equal importance that the European Union has a relationship with the UK after Brexit that is such that it will benefit both. If it does not, the European Union is at stake and will disappear. If a country leaves the Union and benefits trade-wise as a result, no country worth its salt will want to remain behind, so we will all be in trouble then.

The point I am trying to make is simply that there is a lot at stake but I believe we will survive and believe that the island, North and South, which IBEC has emphasised time and again, is important. There is a tendency to believe that by some kind of shuffle this will disappear in the latter stages. It will not, nor could it, nor should it. This island has benefited greatly from the peace it has enjoyed over the past 20 years or so. It will benefit greatly in the future from the continuation of that peace. There are those who might see an advantage for a time to draw lines not in the sand but critical lines that would impede the trade and commerce taking place now and which will continue in the future. That would be a very dangerous and retrograde step. In that context, we must always keep in mind where we came from. What we have now is immeasurably better, regarding both Europe and the North-South relationship in this country, and we should strive to keep it, improve it, develop it and encourage its evolution because the alternatives, from what we have seen, are not great.