Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get some speaking time and I thank the Business Committee for allowing extra time to at least have some debate on this subject. It was going to go through the House without debate, which would have been a very retrograde step. I am not surprised by this action by the ECB and the EU because that is they way they have been behaving. As a man who campaigned over the years for various treaties - Nice, Lisbon one and Lisbon two - I certainly will be more aware, and I hope the public will be more aware, of the bully boy tactics, the controls and the tentacles which are reaching into every aspect of Irish society. It is unwarranted, unnecessary and it is unhelpful. We saw where our friends were when we hit trouble. We saw the money they charged in terms of an interest rate for the so-called bailout, which was a clean out. We got money from the International Monetary Fund at 2.67% and our so-called friends in the EU charged us almost 6%. With friends like that, I wonder who needs enemies - we certainly do not. It is a ridiculous state of affairs. How long are we going to have to wait? Are we going to have to go cap in hand in the context of Private Members' business if there is any item of expenditure? We did not last five years with the last Government. When any Bill was moved by the Opposition, when an amendment was proposed to legislation or when anything was asked for, we were told it would be a cost to the Exchequer and could not be accepted. Amendment after amendment was ruled out of order. Now we have big brother in Europe. Is it any wonder there was a Brexit? The people in the UK are not going to put up with that nonsense. This is why we have the mess now. Unelected bureaucrats are bringing in these laws but we to Brussels and ask, "Where do we sign, how fast can we sign and can we sign three or four times?". We have been the good boys of Europe. I will not say the word but such and such is all the thanks we get, and Deputies know what I mean. It has the audacity to try to interfere in our democratic process. This is the centenary of 1916 and we should be celebrating gaining our freedom and our sovereignty but this is the kind of treatment we get. It is disrespectful and proves a disconnect. I wonder what our Irish MEPs are doing out there? I understand that it is a big Parliament and there are only a small number of Irish MEPs but they have a role to play, especially to stop this kind of nonsense. By its actions, the EU is saying that any Private Members' motion put down by a Deputy in this House could wreck the European project.

At our Business Committee meeting discussion on this matter, it was said that a timeline should be put on it. We are not going to wait until Christmas two years from now for a reply. If there is no reply by a prompt date, we will move on. I believe we should move on anyway and to hell or to Connacht with the ECB. We should tell it to go where the monkeys jump for sixpence.

This is supposed to be a sovereign State and we are supposed to be able to control our own destiny. The Proclamation is read in every school in the country and yet we are kowtowing to these mostly unelected people. We saw how they reacted to the outcome of the Brexit vote. Three or four of the big boys wanted to drive on and to hell with the Brits or anybody else. I think it is proper order that they have moved back from that position now. We are going to have to assert our position that this is a sovereign Parliament and we can do what we want or else we might as well close up the Parliament and go home. The Dáil is going into recess tomorrow, so why are we bothering to come back? We could have the Europeans ruling the roost with the aid of plenty of ready, willing and able officials from the Departments who add five or six statutory instruments to every piece of legislation that comes from the EU. Other countries do not do that. France is one country that does not listen to the rules telling it not do this or that, especially regarding the environment and agriculture. I am not suggesting we should be reckless in the areas of environment or agriculture but consider the ridiculous situation in Northern Ireland where a railing can separate the boundary between the North and the South and one can spread slurry on one side but not on the other. We are overzealous in being good Europeans and our thanks is that we have to go down on our knees and pay homage to the masters in the EU.

The electorate in Ireland will have a wake-up call and any further treaties in the EU will not be passed easily. We will not be sold a pig in a poke. We will not be going back to vote a second time if a treaty fails to get the result the EU wants. People are waiting in the long grass as they waited for Fine Gael at the last election. Now they are waiting for the eurocrats to come back and they are ready to deal with the European bureaucrats.

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