Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Instead, billions of euros' worth of bad banking debt was heaped on the shoulders of Irish citizens. Last June, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste returned from a summit meeting in Brussels to tell us that a seismic shift, a game changer, had been achieved in Europe. They told us this would mean the separation of banking debt from sovereign debt and that in future bank crises the ESM would directly recapitalise banks and the sovereign would not be expected to take on a bank bailout. They said that because Ireland had taken on this liability there would be retrospective recapitalisation. Instead, almost a year later, progress on this has stalled and we seem no closer to a deal on the €30 billion or so that went into the pillar banks. Indeed, given the failure of European leaders to make use of the ESM in the recent Cypriot crisis, such a deal seems even further away.

There are also broader issues to do with the interaction between the European Union and citizens. Since the first steps were taken in the 1950s, more and more areas of policy have been affected by European institutions. Sinn Féin's approach to the European Union has always been one of critical engagement. Where measures are in the interests of the Irish people, we support them and seek to further them. Where they are not, we oppose them and campaign for change. We will not, however, support a drive for further centralisation of powers in the hands of an unelected EU bureaucracy. Irish citizens do not want to live in a province of a European super-state where technocrats take decisions with no accountability. Sinn Féin has been consistently critical of the EU project's federalist character and the profound lack of democracy at its core. We do not support a European Union in which a small number of large member states take it upon themselves to dictate economic or other policy to smaller states. We support a Europe of equals, a social EU where all states act together in their common interest.

The European project grew out of the ashes of the Second World War and a determination between the founding states, particularly Germany and France, that in the future peace and prosperity would define their relationship rather than war and mistrust. As the project has continued, the European Union has played a role in overcoming the divisions in Europe caused by the Cold War. Given its origins in an historic compromise, the EU could also play a very important, perhaps critically important, role in advocating peace, demilitarisation, nuclear disarmament and the just resolution of conflicts.

In Ireland the European Union has, through the PEACE programme, supported the Irish peace process and supported projects aiming to foster peace and reconciliation. In regard to the Middle East peace process, however, the Union could play a more useful role. Yesterday I raised with the Taoiseach the issue of the Jerusalem report, a report by EU heads of mission which raised serious concerns about the actions of the Israeli Government in building settlements and excluding Palestinians from their land. The Palestinian people are being treated shamefully by the Israeli Government in breach of all sorts of international laws, but it seems that little or no action has been taken on this report. I had asked the Taoiseach to raise the report at the March summit meeting but he did not do so and the report was not even discussed. Surely, given our history and our peace process, we have a duty to help people in that region. The EU leaders have also been quiet on the Israeli Government's recent attack on Syria. While I acknowledge the work of the Tánaiste in this area, if an Irish Government does not raise the need for a Middle East peace process at an EU summit, particularly during our EU Presidency, who will raise it? Who else is going to raise this issue if our Taoiseach does not?

Sinn Féin will support a European Union that acts in the interests of citizens, that respects the independence of states, that is democratised and accountable and that fosters economic and social justice. We oppose a European Union that aspires to be an economic and political superpower. We oppose further EU centralisation and control at the heart of the Union. The European Union needs to start acting in the interests of its citizens. If the Government does not raise the issues at the heart of this process, they will not be articulated. The economic crisis and the unemployment crisis, in particular, demonstrate the real crisis now facing the European Union. We need to act firmly and decisively to address this issue. The policy of austerity needs to be abandoned once and for ever in favour of a real shift towards growth and jobs. That truly would be an appropriate way to mark Europe day.

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