Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)

I wanted to come back on something in particular I spoke about earlier, but more related to the MFF and how the Danish Presidency of the EU will pursue that. I noted in his comments he discussed a fiscally responsible approach to the MFF. There is now an opportune turning point in Europe to talk about how we think about fiscal responsibility in this new chapter of global geopolitics and economics. I know many member states are taking a more liberal view on fiscal policy, especially as it applies to defence policy and defence investment. As the ambassador can guess from me and other Members of these Houses, we would be sceptical of that being the use of a more liberal fiscal policy. We probably would prefer more liberalisation on state aid rules, social investment and those kinds of things. There is a worthwhile discussion to be had at the European level with regard to what a fiscal union, state aid rules and a new fiscal treaty look and how we think about fiscal transfers between member states more thoroughly, especially in the context of a monetary policy that may be restrictive on the economic growth of certain member states and shared prosperity across member states. I would like to hear the ambassador's views on that.

On the migration issue, I have emigrated, re-emigrated and come back. At one point, I nearly went to Copenhagen for a job. I met many people there who were new immigrants. Approximately 20% of our workforce is foreign. Migration is a huge and important part of our new story. My family migrated. So many of the stories in Irish families are about the culture of migration. My father grew up on the farm that his grandfather, my great-grandfather bought from his salary that he earned in New York city. This story is very much a part of our cultural heritage. We have a certain affinity with migration and migrants as a result of that and we want to see them treated really well. That is something I impart to the ambassador as Denmark thinks about migration in the larger terms of the Presidency.