Mr. Ciarán Cuffe:

I thank the committee for having us all. I feel like I am back in the Oireachtas, which in a sense I am, although remotely.

It is good to be representing an all-Ireland group of MEPs from both north and south of the Border this afternoon with my colleagues, Ms Martina Anderson and Mr. Matt Carthy.

Brexit is very much on the agenda. Mr. Michel Barnier spoke passionately and wisely last week, not only at the main plenary session in Strasbourg but also to groups. He spent about an hour with the Green group. He said very clearly that he has listened to the voices of women on the Border, who are very afraid of what might happen. When a man like that, a negotiator, has sat down to listen to those voices, one can have confidence that the EU is acting in the best interest of Ireland and the Union. Brexit is very much in the news. Our colleague, Ms Naomi Long, is hosting a Brexit hearing tomorrow. Two former taoisigh, namely, Mr. John Bruton and Mr. Bertie Ahern, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will be addressing it. It will be great to be at that event. Ms Long has just joined us in the room. I congratulate her on organising the event and bringing so many of us together.

In a sense, however, Europe has moved on. We are looking at the next Commission and the multi-annual financial framework. We should not kid ourselves that Brexit is the only show in town in Brussels or Strasbourg. There have been significant negotiations on what Europe will spend the money on over the next seven years. All of us in our respective committees are part of that process. From my party's perspective and the perspectives of all of us, we are very focused on the speech from Ursula von der Leyen about a green new deal and the prospect of aiming for lower emissions. That was summed up in the incredible video from yesterday in which one saw the US President walk past a child from Sweden, therein capturing the global challenges we face at the moment.

The Chairman and I realise that these challenges are not easy. They are tough and will affect what we build, where we build, how we travel and what we eat. It is a huge challenge to reduce our carbon footprint. Finding a meeting ground in the middle is a challenge to the policies the Chairman and I espouse. I look forward to further discussion on that.

I will respond briefly to three questions, the first being on the challenge associated with the European way of life. I am a European and very proud of it but I do not believe Europe would be what it is today without the influences of culture, food and people from the Middle East, China and Africa. That is a significant part of what makes Europe. It was very dangerous for Ursula von der Leyen to pit migration and the European way of life against each other in the same portfolio. That was wrong. I hope she will reconsider that proposal.

On the second question, Senator Craughwell raised the issue of the 12 countries, stretching from Finland to Greece, that have a border with the region outside the Union. The difference is that Ireland is very dependent on its friend and nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom. The countries stretching down the eastern border of the European Union do not have strong economic, social or environmental links with their neighbours but Ireland is inextricably bound to the United Kingdom and must manage the separation process. It looks likely that there will be very significant job losses as part of that. That is where the European Union comes in and where the Irish and UK Governments have to show leadership.

The final question was on an intelligence service or army for Europe. The European Union has an internal security and situation centre. We have an external action service. Therefore, there is a lot of co-operation on how we meet the threats Europe faces within and without. It is a very large jump to go all the way to the suggestion of a common European army from the clear need to have internal and external co-operation on issues of security. We should be very careful not to conflate good security and intelligence with the need for a common European army.

I will leave it at that. I must attend a meeting of the industry and energy committee so I will not be able to remain here for much longer.