Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the comments about someone who is a respected and experienced MEP from my party, I have already said the approach of the Government is to, at the best possible moment, take the right steps to gain value back for the Irish taxpayer.

With regard to the broader points put to me and in concluding on other areas that have not been touched on in the European Council discussions, I refer to manufacturing and what happened in Europe and in Ireland. Deputies are aware of the 6 million jobs lost in Europe. Just under 4 million of those jobs have been lost in manufacturing, which is a gigantic share of employment loss. I am encouraged by the growing momentum in the area of re-shoring, where manufacturing jobs that went to lower cost economies all over the world are now beginning to come back to Europe. There are greater opportunities for the jobs to come back to Ireland. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, and the Secretary of State, Vincent Cable, MP, recently published a joint article on this point. There is a major opportunity for Ireland in the context of the hundreds of thousands of people we want to support getting back to work.

The European Council's conclusions make reference to a number of decisions on supporting industrial policy in Ireland and Europe and to doing all we can to ensure the overall recovery is built with a stronger contribution from industry and manufacturing. They make reference to further progress in the areas of the Single Market and external trade. Reference is also made to what needs to be done to ensure the banking system is able and has the right capacity to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, reference is made to what more needs to be done to put in place strong networks to support the development and commercialisation of research and development in Ireland and across Europe. In considering all of these points we must ensure there are no artificial distinctions for different parts of the economy and the services sector. The reality is that successful participation in value chains all over the world increasingly requires the use and development of business services to ensure progress and work in the area of manufacturing can lead to good jobs and their contribution to economic growth.

A further point concerns the progress made in the regulatory fitness and performance, REFIT, policy, something the European Commission has adopted in recent months. It is about ensuring the levels of regulation within the European economy and inside the European Union are appropriate and that unnecessary proposals are withdrawn.

I wish to conclude with some comments on the EU-Africa summit and the discussion that took place on the situation in Sri Lanka. The Taoiseach will attend the fourth annual EU-Africa summit which will take place in Brussels next week. The theme of the summit will be "Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace". It will form an essential part of the Africa-EU strategy. This is a great opportunity for Ireland and Europe to reiterate that we remain committed to building a partnership of equals with Africa. What the European Council's conclusions stress is that continued international support for African partners in the area of security continues to be vital but that further work needs to be done to support African countries as they seek to increase their capacity and develop their ability to govern their people and communities well. Ireland will intervene in the summit next week. The particular areas on which we will focus will be sustainable and inclusive growth, specifically agriculture and food security.

On several occasions the European Union and Ireland have articulated their strong concerns about human rights in Sri Lanka and urged the Government of Sri Lanka to implement effectively the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. In last week's conclusions the European Council called for the adoption of a resolution on Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council that would provide for an international investigation into serious human rights abuses by both sides in Sri Lanka’s civil war, as recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. With this in mind, Ireland, as an elected member of the Human Rights Council, will continue to work with international partners to urge the Government of Sri Lanka to adhere to its international obligations and respect human rights.

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