Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State will forgive me for flinging a few questions at her before running out the door. I have a name for throwing the grenade and running anyway, but on this occasion I have other meetings arranged, so I apologise.

I will start by congratulating the Minister of State and, more importantly, those officials who work on behalf of Ireland all over Europe - the ambassadors and their staff with whom the Minister of State engages on a daily basis. Their work on Brexit must be acknowledged by those of us in political life. Without them, we would not have half the work done. There is not a corner of Europe that is unaware of Ireland's unique situation in terms of Brexit. While the Minister of State breaks her heart ensuring that is so on a daily basis, her officials have been doing that in each country.

My fear is that all of that work will have been for nothing if Britain falls apart in Brexit. We are hearing screams for a second referendum and so on. It looks like Prime Minister May will not be able to carry her Government and the House of Commons on the Brexit vote. If so, we will be thrown into a quagmire. We do not know where they are going.

We in this country have never addressed the concept of a hard border or where we are going. There has never been a hard border in Ireland since the foundation of the State. There have been what I would call militaristic crossings, Border crossings have been difficult to get through and border management has been a major problem, but there have never been barbed wire and walls across fields and unapproved roads to stop people crossing back and forth. However, there is now a likelihood that we could find ourselves going back to border management again. The Fianna Fáil Party made the point on television on Sunday night that we needed to increase the number of gardaí to look after the Border should such a situation arise. We reorganised the Defence Forces in 2012 and moved all of the troops south. Most soldiers, airmen and naval personnel are accommodated south of a line from Dublin to Galway. We only have military people in Donegal and Dundalk, with the latter's units providing day-to-day security services in Dublin. With the barracks in Cavan and Monaghan closed, has the Government war gamed a managed border as we had during the horrible 1970s to 2000s? Have contingency plans been put in place on the military side as opposed to the Garda side?

The Minister of State will forgive me if I move through a number of issues quickly. The Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, has been the backbone of the Irish agricultural industry. As we move towards a new Europe, will the CAP become more aligned with environmental concerns? Agriculture is our backbone, but if it is destroying the environment, we have to find a balance. I do not wish to see the farming community suffer, but the CAP will have to be reorganised. I will read the Minister's response.

With her colleagues, the Minister of State has done a tremendous job in engaging the population in a discussion on the future of Europe. The Timmermans task force is moving towards subsidiarity and proportionality, that is, bringing decision making to the lowest common denominator in terms of lawmaking, regulation, etc. Surprisingly, though, we in Ireland seem to be centralising rather than distributing power. We are moving towards larger councils and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is taking more and more away from local authorities. How does all of that fit into the future model of Europe? The Minister of State referred to 92% of Irish people, and 97% of our young people, being totally committed to Europe. That is the micro level. At the macro level, though, there is a disturbing movement of people condemning Europe. We in politics have to take a bit of blame for that insofar as we constantly blame Brussels for decisions that we have agreed to in the first place. Has the Minister of State anything to say on the question of subsidiarity?

The ability to travel throughout Europe and take educational and training courses has committed every young person to Europe. To a certain degree, however, that is something for the bourgeoisie, those who can afford university education and so on. I want to see more movement on training and apprenticeships across Europe. Has the Minister of State seen any real desire to bring that idea on board over the 2020-27 period? Will there be a greater effort to engage at that level? I am referring to training rather than academic and to apprenticeships rather than university. A great deal of apprenticeships will be undertaken in technological universities, but the Minister of State understands what I am talking about.

I thank the Chairman for giving me this opportunity. I will take the time to read the Minister of State's answers. I thank the Chairman for allowing me to leave now.