Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the ambassadors. On behalf of the committee and the Irish people more widely, I make the point that we are truly in awe of the response of their nations and peoples to the unprecedented crisis that has unfolded because of the viciousness of one individual. I hope the discussions we have had today will be the start of an ongoing dialogue because, while we have gathered an enormous amount of information, this situation is going to evolve and we will interact again. The ambassador, H.E. Ms Sochaska, referred to selling our values, and that resonated with me.

In recent times there has been a propensity to allow obviously tainted money to come into our exchequers, across our financial systems and to be invested in football teams. The values that underpin what Europe is have been degraded and devalued by that. When the ambassador was speaking, the words of Yeats struck me:

But fumble in a greasy till

And add the halfpence to the pence

And prayer to shivering prayer, until

You have dried the marrow from the bone;

We need to reflect on that and ensure there is no space in Europe for tainted money. The ambassador spoke about ensuring energy independence for Europe, an important matter that we must reflect upon. I thank the ambassadors for their presentations and for bearing with us. We are most grateful for that and we look forward to interacting again.

Before formally closing the meeting, I pay a personal tribute on behalf of us all to our staff, who have endured many hours here without even a tea break. It was not intended but we really are grateful to them for that. Of course, I blame the Chairman.