Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. I am not as brave as Deputy Richmond to go down to the committee room yet. I acknowledge the work of Vice-President Šefovi, the proposals he will put on the table today and the commitment he has given. He has engaged with this committee and is willing to engage with us again. I also acknowledge the work of Ms Nolan and her team. They do not get thanked enough, especially in the past number of years, when it has been pretty clear they have been fighting and elbowing our interests. We should acknowledge that and I thank her and her team for doing so.

I note Ms Nolan's phrase that the Commission will stretch its response to the limit. I suggest that all of us will have our patience stretched to the limit in the coming days. I agree with Miss Nolan on not commenting much. What timeline does she anticipate for this issue as it begins to come to a head?

Miss Nolan mentioned what the EU is built on. It strikes me that many of the principles on which the EU is built are being undermined, not just by member states but by geopolitical trends, inadequate response to crises and a shift away from the values on which the Union was built, namely, solidarity and a commitment to peace and individual and human rights.

Ms Nolan mentioned there is a toolbox available but it needs to be used rationally. This drift has been under way for some time. We all looked askance at the US in 2016 but when it was happening here, not just in Poland but in other member states such as Hungary, we were shrugging our shoulders and the Commission was slow to respond, especially in the case of Hungary. That may have emboldened those in Poland and other countries to go the road they are going. I am absolutely with Ms Nolan in her view that the Commission wants to respond rationally but at some stage we have to open the toolbox and use the tools, rather than having it gather dust. If we continue to soft-soap the response to this, it will worsen. Yes, there were millions of Poles on the streets at the weekend, but that was people-led. That was led by communities and people throughout Poland, not by politics. The Commission needs to be far stronger in defending the principles of the European Union and not allowing member states to go as far as some are going.

The ambition for the European Green Deal is very high. We have to collectively support it get behind it, but what about those communities feeling left behind, especially fishing and agriculture? Our fishing community would not recognise the current European Green Deal and what is being done to them as socially just or fair. How do we ensure those communities get buy-in to the programmes and resources Ms Nolan indicated are being made available? There is a sense of a disconnect between these communities and the negotiation as to how those resources are delivered to and within member states. There is a sense that the interests of these communities are not being reflected. The Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries visited some of the communities a number of weeks ago, but there is a serious disconnect, especially in our fishing communities and very much growing in our agricultural communities, from many of the aspirations of the European Green Deal. I will leave that with Ms Nolan and thank her for her time.