Ms Frances Fitzgerald:

I thank the Chairman and Senator Leyden for their comments. We all appreciate them. It is a great honour to represent Ireland in the European Parliament and to get the support of the public. People are engaged in European issues in a way they probably have not been previously, particularly with Brexit. I will start with the support we have received here, which is striking. We hear about it all the time but to go into the parliament and see the seven-page resolution that was passed last week, which is totally supportive of the Irish position on the backstop and issues such as protecting the Border, making sure there is no hard Border and protecting the all-island economy, is striking. It is also striking to see the depth of knowledge among MEPs from all countries and the level of support so it is very strong. Michel Barnier, who has spoken to us on quite a number of occasions, and Ursula von der Leyen are following through on the policy we have seen with Mr. Barnier saying this is a critical time. It is a time to tell the public the truth regarding the impact of Brexit. The new developments in the UK Parliament earlier are disturbing.

I am a member of the European Parliament's committee on economic and monetary affairs, which is an important committee for Ireland because it deals with financial services and banking and has been caught up in the significant challenges Europe has been through over the past ten years. I agree with what Mick Wallace MEP said about the green deal. Ursula von der Leyen is very striking and strong on that. It is everywhere. People are utterly committed and it is now about the implementation of that. We will do a lot of work together because this is where there is a lot of compromise as opposed to adversarial politics. There is a lot of working together. Different parties will put forward their priorities and we will end up with stronger action but it will take time.

The committee on economic and monetary affairs is also examining money laundering and more effective legislation across Europe. Ireland does well in this regard but it is a critical issue. It is a much bigger problem in other countries and we need to get working on that. Sustainable finance will be a significant topic that the committee will hear more about. Our banks and financial institutions will need more instruments to support what can done in respect of financial support for green energy. I attended an interesting meeting last week on the sustainable development goals. It was very disturbing to hear about the trillions of euro that are needed to implement those and the low level of support from the public and private sectors. Both sectors need to up their game considerably if we are to implement these goals. That is a topic that this committee might like to pursue at another point.

The European Investment Bank, EIB, has a significant amount - €700 billion - to invest over the next number of years. We must make sure that Ireland gets its fair share of that. Approximately €1 billion is currently going towards climate change initiatives and support for small business that will experience difficulties one way or another during Brexit. The EIB makes funding available through the banks for small businesses. This is something this committee might be interested in keeping an eye on to see how the implementation of that fares over the next few years and to make sure we put forward reasons we should get money from this fund. In the past, we have not always taken down the full amount of European funding we could have taken.

I am also a member of the European Parliament committees on development and women's rights and gender equality. A new gender equality strategy will be brought forward by the Commission, which will be important. It will involve making sure every project that comes from Europe has a gender budgeting aspect.