Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 May 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs

Engagement with MEPs

2:00 pm

Mr. Seán Kelly:

I thank the committee members for all the contributions and thoughts. MEPs, the Irish Government and Irish civil society have done a great job thus far in ensuring that the concerns of Ireland are taken into account. This is reflected in the position of the European Parliament and the position of the Council. Michel Barnier is a member of the EPP. This process started when I, as leader of the Fine Gael delegation, wrote to Mr. Barnier and asked him to meet all Irish MEPs. He did so and we have been engaging as a group ever since. That is important.

The Irish position is now one of the three major points. The other two are easy enough and are controversial because they involve the rights of European Union citizens and United Kingdom citizens. Our concern relates to the Border. There is recognition of it. As Ms McGuinness has said, we have done a good deal of work and we brought them to the Border. Michel Barnier went to see the Border. This is where we need to keep up the flow of discussion.

Ms Anderson and others have mentioned transparency. As the negotiations go through, we have to see how things are progressing to ensure that the commitments in place now are honoured. That will be a task for us. That is where we need to relate to the committee and that aspect will be important.

Senator Coghlan referred to the big issue, which is the question of the exit bill for the British. That is going to produce a major dispute. There was a dispute on the question in the European Parliament last week. Essentially, the view of the European Union is that a commitment is in place and the programmes and projects and so on are under way. These have to be funded and they will certainly be funded until the end of the multi-annual financial framework. Last week, Michel Barnier put it to the British people that when a person goes to a restaurant, before he leaves, he settles the bill. That is where it is.

There is going to be a lot of discussion on that. Unless the British change their attitude, it will be difficult. At the moment, they are playing to their electorate but if they change, it will be possible to do these things.

I am the only Irish member of the International Trade Committee of the Parliament, INTA. I am totally in favour of trade deals and we have benefited more than any other country from the Canadian deal on account of having a lot of interaction with Canada. The European Court of Justice made a decision last week on the Singapore agreement, which will apply to future agreements and to CETA. The ruling states that most of the deal comes under European competence but that the dispute resolutions system, the ISDS, has to be negotiated and agreed by all Parliaments. This will help rather than hinder the situation.

Deputy Durkan spoke about blaming Europe. Unfortunately, one of the worst culprits is our EPP colleague, Mr. Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, and I said so much at a meeting of the EPP group last week. I criticised his populist approach and for blaming Brussels for this and that and I am hopeful that the message will get through. As the Deputy pointed out, such people are part of the decision-making process and in Mr. Orbán's case this is as a Prime Minister and in the European Parliament.

Marian Harkin asked who we could speak to about our files. I am involved in the climate file and am dealing with renewable energy, the energy performance of buildings and energy efficiency. I could talk to Deputy Eamon Ryan and his colleagues but I need to speak to more members. Engagement at national parliament level is important. All the lobbyists come to us. They have vested interests and that is okay but we need politicians in national parliaments, and not just the Greens, to give us a broader view.