Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am beginning to get a little bit weary of these supposed debates that we have before the Taoiseach heads off to Brussels for summits. One reason I am getting weary of them is summed up in his last sentence, “I look forward now to hearing Deputies’ comments and perspectives”. Where is the Taoiseach? Is he listening to us somewhere else? He left the Chamber the moment he finished speaking. That shows his contempt for the messages he is getting from the Opposition. He is not listening. We know that. He read a script today which singularly and deliberately avoided in any way addressing the key questions of Europe. Who wrote this script for the Taoiseach? It reads as if it was written by someone in the European Commission. There is absolutely no mention in it – I am open to correction – of any initiative that Ireland will take at this European Council meeting, of anything the Taoiseach intends to say or of any word or voice of dissent from anything the European Commission does. The Commission is mentioned in virtually every paragraph with approbation and applause and Ireland is mentioned only in the context of continually siding with, and supporting, what the Commission says. That tells us that Ireland’s voice in Europe is ignored because the Taoiseach and the Government have accepted the role of being some sort of satellite of France or Germany or whoever they choose on the day. We have become the eunuchs of Europe. We say nothing. We have no independence. We held a debate on neutrality recently which was constructive and interesting but was totally and utterly ignored.

To get some indication of how we are treated in Europe, one needs to consider the issue the Taoiseach did not address and should have addressed. Yesterday, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, in Europe, accepted and supported an extension for France for being a serial offender in breaking the debt to GDP rules. He not only did that, but he supported the same for Italy and Belgium. He is saying, “It’s okay, tie my hands behind my back but don’t do it to the big nations”. We are frightened of saying even “Boo” to the French. In a pathetic gesture, he grabbed Mr. Schäuble at the edge of one of the meetings to tell him he thought Ireland should maybe get the same treatment. It is a bit damn late to be telling Mr. Schäuble that. He says Mr. Schäuble got the message, which means he told the Minister, Deputy Noonan, to go off and have a cup of tea somewhere and come back to him in six months when he would see what he could do.

Ireland is a pathetic creature on the European stage. Ireland’s voice does not count and we see that not only in the Taoiseach’s speech, but in what happened yesterday. Our attitude to the Greek situation is symbolic of that. We should naturally be allies of the small nations.

See this speech in context