Ms Noelle O'Connell:

I thank the Deputy for his excellent points. I could not comment on whether there was any pontificating involved. I will start by apologising. May is traditionally one of the busiest months in European Movement Ireland. Not only did we have Europe Week starting on 9 May but, in the past two weeks, we have been involved in supporting the fantastic work of, and partnering with, the Government, the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, and the Department of Foreign Affairs in two national launches. One was the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe, which the Deputy mentioned, and the other was the launch of the Government's EU jobs strategy, which is about encouraging and promoting awareness among Irish people of the career opportunities that exist for them in the various EU institutions, bodies and agencies. That is a fantastic strategy. It is very important because it will really work to provide opportunities to make sure we have a pipeline of Irish officials to ensure we are represented at every level and around every table.

With regard to the screens, if I can use the EU jobs strategy launch as an example, paradoxically, one of the positive aspects of this crisis with regard to the virtual world is that more than 700 people registered to watch the Government's national launch of the EU jobs strategy. I was contacted by people working for UN agencies in Fiji and people working in Canada who were looking to learn more about the opportunities available. I apologise but this is a great opportunity to discuss and debate Ireland's relationship with the EU and Europe and how to go about framing and improving that relationship.

The Deputy is correct and he hit the nail on the head in respect of the vaccine strategy. If it a point often forgotten but the EU is one of the few global blocs, if not the only one, to export vaccines and to facilitate access to vaccines and to the supply chain for less fortunate or developing countries. If we are honest about it, others have not been as forthcoming or generous in that regard. The Deputy is correct that none of us is protected until we are all protected. That is why it is welcome to see the progress in respect of the roll-out of the vaccine strategy. I hope that, if it please God, we will swiftly move through all demographics and cohorts here in Ireland. The EU has, in fact, exported more than 100 million doses of vaccine. That is to be commended and recognised. It obviously did not get everything right. The Deputy is absolutely spot on in that. There was a slow and bumpy start. The template and roadmap were possibly not as easy to implement at such a fast speed but I really hope that the EU will take the lessons it has learned from this process into the years ahead. I apologise as I misspoke. In excess of 200 million doses have been exported. I am getting my statistics and figures wrong. It is therefore an even better and more improved performance.

The Deputy touched on corporate tax issues. It is a really interesting point. We want to put that question in our poll every year. I believe it is interesting. It shows where Irish people's thinking is. This issue is obviously assuming greater focus and urgency, not least following the Commission's announcement yesterday or President Biden's comments. It is certainly fair to say, in light of the work the OECD is doing and the challenges of dealing with tax, that this is a global rather than a national issue. It is certainly something about which people in Ireland feel very strongly. It is interesting to see such consistency in our findings across the years.

I agree with the Deputy. What we want, and what everyone really wants, is a reforming EU that fully lives up to the values it espouses and was founded upon. We are nothing if we do not hold true to our values. The Deputy is absolutely right. I share many of the sentiments he has expressed with regard to maintaining and upholding the rule of law, equality and respect for human rights and human dignity. We should not be afraid to call that out. It is welcome to see countries stepping up to the plate more actively and putting forward their perspectives more vocally, notwithstanding that it is impossible to get consensus and agreement across all member states. We in Ireland are doing that. Again, we have to be a little bit cognisant of managing expectations in that regard but it is welcome to see Ireland collectively putting forward our robust perspectives and constructively feeding into various conversations taking place at all levels. With regard to the UN, it is important that we continue to do that. It is something we have been doing. Notwithstanding the geopolitical challenges that characterise the increasingly multifaceted global world order, it is important that we in Ireland use our voice effectively to the best of our ability and that we continue to do that. The Deputy is correct; there is an onus and a responsibility on us to do so.

We touched on the united Ireland question. European Movement Ireland is one of the participants in the Brexit stakeholder forum of the Minister and the Department of Foreign Affairs. We very fortunate to have had a presentation a number of weeks or months ago from the Vice-President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefovi.

His knowledge, commitment and solidarity with the island of Ireland to work collectively to mitigate the worst impacts of Brexit for the citizens in the North and recognise the challenges it poses to businesses, SMEs and all of us here in Ireland, was striking, welcome and important. He carried out the same consultative forum listening process with stakeholder groups and associations in the North. That is to be commended.

I raised the issue with him of ensuring the representative voice of those people in the North who identify as Irish and European continuing to be represented and advocated for. I am grateful to and appreciative of Vice-President Šefovi recognising this fact. I hope the Commission will continue to seek to engage with all of us on this island in that regard and ensure we maintain that engagement.

A great Corkman said fail to plan is to plan to fail. Deputy Ó Murchú is absolutely right that in any of these conversations, question and discussions we have posed in our new Ireland and the EU poll we want to make sure we keep doing that. I will have that as our motto for the conference on the future of Europe. I hope when I am invited to look back on the process, we will be able to report on the positive and constructive outcomes and that we are in a better place this time next year, having gone through the process and learned significantly, than where we are now.