Ms Michaela Reilly:

It is not often mentioned that the European project was based on political and economic values. Cultural values were disregarded. Questions were posed in regard to neutrality, PESCO and peace.

If we look at the culture of all European states, it comprises the cultures of 28 different states, soon to be 27. These have very different cultural values. After 70 years of this project, it is time to introduce new ways of looking at things. It is not always driven by politics and economics, although we are in a political chamber. It is very important that we look towards cultures. I am sure most Irish people would not be impressed to hear that we are supporting PESCO. Claims were made that money we pay into the European budget for defence goes to camps in Libya and so on. That is not what we anticipated our tax money would be used for. There are also cultures within Europe that really promote a strong, hard-line defence policy, which we do not. We are more focused on peacekeeping and neutrality. There needs to be a balance in how we look at cultures and cultural values. Only in that way can we address all of the issues that have been brought up.