Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús báire, guím gach rath ar an Taoiseach ag an gcéad cruinniú a bheidh aige le ceannairí na hEorpa amárach. Mar aon leis sin, deirim leis go bhfuil sé fíor-thábhachtach go mbeidh an méid eolais a thagann amach as na cruinnithe seo i bhfad níos cruinne ná mar a bhí go dtí seo. Uaireanta, faigheann muid eolas ginearálta agus bíonn easpa cruinnis i gcroílár na freagraí a fhaigheann muid ón Rialtas.

Before dealing with the summit agenda in more detail, I would like to make a few comments about how statements on EU meetings have been handled in recent years. It has been Fianna Fáil's policy during these sessions to engage constructively with the agenda of the upcoming summit.  In contrast, it has been Government policy to maximise the generalities and minimise the detail and, as we know from yesterday, the new Taoiseach believes that preventing questions being asked in the Dáil can be a priority for him.

We have been obliged to seek information in Brussels and elsewhere in order to make a substantive contribution, and this seems likely to continue.  I know that many others share our frustration at the superficial and dismissive approach by Government to real discussions of European policy. As this is the Taoiseach's first statement on Europe, he should be aware that patience has been exhausted on this matter. The reality is that the Government has seen European issues as simply another forum for domestic politics.  The defining approach to negotiations has been to say as little as possible in public so that whatever emerges can be presented as a great national victory.  In some cases, we have even discovered that Ireland had not actually tabled any proposals but the victory was claimed anyway.

Over the past six years, each year Fianna Fáil has outlined a detailed and radical approach to the development and reform of the Union.

From a point two years before the referendum, we have been addressing the specific issue of Brexit, yet in response the level of engagement with and information from the Government for the pro-EU Opposition has been lower than at any point in decades. It is long past time for a comprehensive statement to be published on Ireland's future European policy.  The debate is well under way elsewhere and some reports suggest the negotiations may even have started on the shape of the European Union in five and ten years' time.  Ireland must join this debate and must develop a strategy to influence it. There has been a poor beginning to the revised Government’s commitment to deal with the Opposition in good faith.  In the normal course of events this would be serious, but when it comes to issues such as the European Union and Northern Ireland, it could cause real damage and undermine the non-partisan legitimacy from which the Government's policy has always drawn strength. This is the Taoiseach's choice, but if the partisan positioning and press briefing obsessed strategy continues on the European Union, it will do him no good and will cause real damage to the country.

Donald Tusk has been a good President of the Council and we supported his reappointment.  He has shown a keen interest in Ireland from his first days as Polish Prime Minister and has maintained it.  In the next two years he will lead the Council through extremely important discussions on the future of the European Union. The ten-minute bilateral meeting the Taoiseach is scheduled to hold with him on Thursday clearly will not allow for a detailed discussion; it will be more like a formal introduction.  We would strongly support an invitation to him to address the Oireachtas.

Brexit is not a significant item on the summit's agenda for the obvious reason that the negotiations only started this week. As we have said repeatedly, we believe the Government’s failure or refusal to propose specific arrangements for mitigating the impact of Brexit has been an error.  Winning acceptance that Ireland is a special case is not even 10% of the battle.  Securing support for a light-touch border crossing will help only marginally.  Special status in some form for the North and the Border counties must be sought. Special status would threaten no one, but it could protect many from the worst impact of the narrow-minded decision foisted on Northern Ireland by an English majority. Equally, there is no realistic way of helping the worst affected industries within existing EU state aid regulations.  If we are to secure concessions in time, we need to be pushing now and not after the worst of the damage has been caused. We will request a full Brexit debate in the House in the coming weeks during which we will expect the Taoiseach to go beyond the vague generalities we have heard so far.

The House should know that yesterday was World Refugee Day. The summit is due to discuss the ongoing migration crisis.  On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I again extend our thanks to the men and women of the Defence Forces who are working tirelessly to save thousands in the Mediterranean Sea.  In particular, I note the extraordinary professionalism and humanitarian commitment shown in recent days by the crew of the LÉ Eithnewhen they rescued almost 800 people and delivered a baby girl on board.  What is striking about this story is that it is a replica of what happened this week two years ago.  In July 2015 the crew of theLÉ Niamhdelivered a child while rescuing people who were desperate to get to Europe.  The progress since has been limited at best. The reason there is still a migration crisis is the factors which cause people to flee their homelands remain. We support the efforts of the Council to achieve greater solidarity among member states in helping migrants seeking asylum.  However, we also believe that not even a fraction of the required funding is being provided to help people in their home countries or close to them. The overwhelming majority of migrants do not want to leave their homes and would be willing to wait nearby until they can return.  They are undertaking such desperately dangerous journeys because they have lost hope they can provide for themselves and their families. What we need from the Council is not just greater solidarity in helping those who reach Europe but also a step change in providing direct aid for people and communities in north Africa and the Middle East.

The decision of the Russian Government to support the Assad regime is the only reason the conflict in Syria escalated, fractured and displaced millions, yet both Russia and Syria are making exactly zero contribution to the provision of genuine humanitarian aid. As well as calling on the Russian and Syrian Governments to stop targeting civilians, the Council should also commence a process for increasing humanitarian aid in order that by the autumn we will not enter the spiral of heightened misery which has always followed the turn towards winter. The scheduled discussion on security and defence has not been preceded by details of what is involved.  Our assumption is that it is simply a review of agreed actions and will involve no new policy.

As part of this discussion we believe leaders should begin a more detailed approach to dealing with the exponentially-rising threat of cyberwarfare. European states such as Estonia and Sweden have been the subject of aggressive cyber-attacks.  In other cases, the use of cyberwarfare methods to interfere in democratic elections has been proved, including both service disruption attacks and the spreading of disinformation.  All of this activity has had one source.  The last two national risk assessments carried out by all parts of the public and security services have identified cyberdisruption as potentially the most damaging risk to Ireland, but little has been little done to respond to it. I have no doubt that a co-ordinated European response is the only way by which we can develop credible defences against this activity. I hope the Taoiseach will raise this matter and remind other leaders that it is a security threat on which every country, including the European Union's neutral members, can work together.

The summit will also formally sign off on the latest European Semester. It may well be the worst named of the many badly named European procedures. It is simply the end of the latest cycle of economic and budgetary reviews.  The tone of the draft conclusions implies that the process has been successful.  In truth, the reviews have been helpful in only a limited number of cases.  More generally, they are either banal or ignore profound issues. They are primarily about controlling budgets but are largely superficial when it comes to measures other than structural reforms.  More importantly, they consistently ignore the need for new approaches to dealing with issues such as imbalances between countries. In addition, they do not grapple with the need for significant debt relief for Greece or provide a credible growth agenda for many other countries. One issue that has become obvious in recent months is that the current model for discussions within the Eurogroup is unsustainable. The ad hocnegotiations, devoid of an agreed procedure, dominated by side discussions and led by a Minister for Finance with no fixed term, are not a credible way to address the issues of the eurozone. As a start, a more permanent arrangement for a Eurogroup chairperson should be agreed, now that the incumbent will soon depart.

It may be that a non-agenda point concerning respect for fundamental rights within the European Union will be raised.  This relates, in particular, to a severe anti-NGO law recently passed in Hungary and some equally concerning laws in other countries. Every country that joins the European Union gives a commitment to respect basic rights.  At this grave moment, when extremists threaten the basic tenets of liberal democracy, we cannot sit quietly and say nothing.

There is no doubt that the Taoiseach will travel to the summit with the lines prepared about how successful his trip will be.  What matters is whether he is willing to do the much harder work of making concrete proposals about the future of the European Union, protecting Ireland against the impact of Brexit and ending the policy where Ireland has been little more than a bystander when fundamental issues have been discussed.

See this speech in context