Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Before I begin I, too, would like to extend my congratulations to the Minister of State, Deputy Paschal Donohoe. I have known the Minister of State since we were both elected to the Seanad in 2007. He was a member of the European Union affairs committee from that time.

Indeed, he chaired the sub-committee that examined the fall-out from the first referendum on the Lisbon treaty. That sub-committee was instrumental in getting the subsequent second referendum passed. I wish the Minister of State well in his new job. I am sure it might seem daunting at times. I would like to remind him of a motto with which he will be familiar. I hope Deputies do not mind me lapsing into Latin. I refer to the phrase audere est facere, which means "to dare is to do". I am sure he will do very well in his new role.

I would like to say a few words about the Minister of State's predecessor, Deputy Creighton. She was always on top of her game when she appeared before the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. She did some outstanding work during the Presidency. She visited 44 countries on behalf of the Irish Presidency and clocked up over 120,000 miles. I think I speak for all the members of the joint committee when I say we always found her to be very open and amenable to meeting us to answer our questions. We thank her for her work and we wish her well in the future. It would be remiss of me to neglect to mention that the Clerk of the Dáil is present in the Chamber tonight. Given that he is in his final days in that position, it is a great honour to have him here before us. We would like to wish him well in his future.

All of us know how much hard work went into Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. We know it took many months of planning to make it happen. I am sure many people in the various Departments are still recovering from our recent Presidency. Lithuania has now been in that role for three weeks. We have already had a great deal of engagement with the Lithuanian authorities. I was in Vilnius last week for a meeting of the chairpersons of European affairs committees from across the Union. The meeting, which was organised by COSAC, was held in the Lithuanian Parliament, the Seimas. It was expertly chaired by Gediminas Kirkilas, who is a former Prime Minister of Lithuania. The success of the Irish Presidency was remarked on time and time again at that meeting. Every single person who mentioned the Presidency to me during my three days in Vilnius spoke about how well we organised it and referred to the great achievements and steps forward we took over the last six months. Advancements were made with the banking union, the European semester and the economic and monetary union. The Tánaiste and the Taoiseach came in for particular praise in Vilnius because we managed to get the multiannual financial framework budget across the line. There will be a vote on this in October. People were very thankful that we managed to hand over the Presidency with that particular portfolio file closed.

We discussed the future of the economic and political union at last week's meeting of chairpersons. The Vice President of the Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, spoke about how the Commission intends to extend the economic and political union so that it also includes a social dimension. Everyone in this House will welcome that because we all remember how many times it was raised by our citizens during last year's debate on the fiscal compact. Under this social dimension, types of social indicators such as employability, long-term unemployment and poverty will be examined to see how countries are doing. Countries will be measured against these baseline indicators. It is hoped that help will be provided, in one form or another, to countries that fail to reach those benchmarks.

Like Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, I have some concerns about LGBT rights in Lithuania. The Lithuanian Minister for Foreign Affairs, who addressed the chairpersons while I was in Vilnius, accepts that there is still some homophobia in certain elements of society and recognises that it has to be tackled. I met the Irish ambassador in Vilnius and the Lithuanian Gay League to talk about the forthcoming Baltic Pride march. Our ambassador there is doing some great work to try to make sure that parade takes place. The Lithuanian ambassador to Ireland, Vidmantas Purlys, addressed last week's meeting of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. He discussed the specific priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency. He made the point that a huge amount of time and effort has gone into the planning of what is Lithuania's first Presidency. He said that Irish and Lithuanian civil servants have been engaged in ongoing work since 2010 to jointly plan the handover. We have extended to Lithuania the knowledge we have acquired during our seven Presidencies. This shows again the high regard in which Irish civil servants are held across the Union.

The work that Lithuania will do during its Presidency will focus on a credible, growing and open Europe, much as we did during our Presidency. Economic growth, job creation and financial stability are the priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency. Of course Lithuania has a specific interest in the eastern partnership, involving countries like Belarus and Ukraine. The ambassador, Mr. Purlys, spoke with great energy about the possibilities that the next six months hold for his country, for the Presidency and or Europe. When I spoke to him again last night, I said I hoped he would appear before our joint committee again before Lithuania's Presidency comes to an end. That will probably happen in October, in advance of the visit to Lithuania of a delegation from the committee. The members in question will attend the 50th plenary session of COSAC, which will take place in Vilnius over two days. The Lithuanian authorities have put together an interesting agenda for that conference. I will address a session of the conference on the evolving and important role of national parliaments in the European semester. I do not doubt that this will add to the debate that is under way in that regard. Having heard about the Lithuanian priorities from the ambassador and at least week's meeting in Vilnius, I have no doubt that the Lithuanian authorities will deliver on their plans for a very progressive and ambitious Presidency. I look forward to it. I wish them well.

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