Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their presentations and for being here today. I am sure it is a little intimidating but hopefully they have relaxed more into it. It is very interesting to draw out their opinions on so many issues, including climate change, neutrality, the voting age and so forth. It has been a learning exercise for us. We get the message loud and clear that the voices of young people need to be heard and that is not quite happening at the moment.

We are celebrating 50 years of Ireland’s membership in the European Union this week. We had Europe Day on Monday. The presentations are part of the week-long schedule of activity. We had a comprehensive debate in the Dáil yesterday about Europe Day and what Europe means to us all. It is clear that membership of the European Union has transformed Irish society. We joined in 1972. Looking back on it, and I do not remember the 1950s and the period prior to membership, but Ireland was a very dark place at the time. The European Union dragged Ireland kicking and screaming into the 20th and 21st centuries. That is something we need to be conscious of.

The European Union espouses liberal democratic values and tolerance. The vision and ideals of the European Union must relate to young people, in particular. When we consider the Brexit vote in the UK in 2016 which led the UK to leave the European Union, it is interesting that research shows that young people voted in very large numbers to remain in the European Union and it was the older people who wanted to leave. That tells a message as well. Even in regard to rule of law issues, when the Polish Government introduced LGBTIQ+ exclusion zones, the European Union was very strong in saying that it was just not acceptable. Countries have to adhere to the values and ideals of the European Union if they want to be a member of the Union. I just put that out to our guests and hope they agree that the European Union is particularly good for young people in respect of the values that it espouses. I hope they will agree with me on that.

On climate change, which Ms Agrawal and others mentioned, the European Union is to the forefront in dealing with it. Ms Agrawal mentioned the European Green Deal and so forth. That is just one issue. Countries such as Russia, China and India are not pulling their weight in regard to dealing with climate change, which is a big worry. However, the European Union is to the forefront of that.

Do our guests agree that the European Union is actually good for young people? Where do they see themselves going in the future? Would any of them consider a political career, for want of a better word, joining a political party or becoming actively involved in politics? They have taken big steps in coming here today and becoming involved in Comhairle na nÓg. Would any of them pursue politics formally and perhaps run for office in a local council or the Dáil some day?