Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The European Council is due to address a range of issues but the two core issues are the future of the EU and Brexit and I will address these in that order. As a result of various speeches and statements by President Macron, Chancellor Merkel, President Juncker and others, a substantive debate about the future direction and activities of the EU has finally begun. In the absence of broad agreement on starting principles, there is a great danger of falling into what was termed in "Yes Minister" as the "politician's syllogism", that is, "something must be done, this is something, and, therefore, we must do this." The debate is already under way but it lacks shape or the sort of co-operative work that is essential to achieve anything across the Union. It is striking how so little evidence has been presented to show that specific proposed changes would address the identified deficits, particularly in terms of economic dynamism.

The most obvious example of this is relates to tax harmonisation. Those pushing for it have failed to undertake the most basic work on showing how this is an answer to Europe's problems. They have also failed to show its impact on individual member states. It is not a proposal based on turning words about solidarity into actions which demonstrate solidarity. In truth, we believe it is the promotion of national agendas under the guise of quite disinterested reform. What is needed is for this important process to be inclusive, one capable of recognising the full balance of interests of all EU members. As our party leader has said on many occasions, the core promise of the European Union is that it offers all who participate a means of achieving and sustaining progress. It cannot survive if the answer to the destructive and intolerant rise of anti-European populism is driven by a small number of larger states. The agenda for the future of Europe is one which Fianna Fáil has addressed frequently and in great depth. In a series of speeches to the Institute for International and European Affairs and in our manifesto, position papers and statements in Brussels, we have argued for an ambitious reform agenda, including greater fiscal resources for the Union, a more ambitious banking union, an openness to more enhanced co-operation rather than the need for unity on all issues and an investment in the key drivers of long-term social and economic success.

We have also been calling on Government to produce a White Paper on Europe for four years yet the Taoiseach and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade have continued to follow the approach of their predecessors, which is to refuse to state a policy until it looks like that is what is going to happen anyway. No matter how many photo opportunities get set up or how many official resources are used to give the illusion of transparency, it would appear that the Government actually has no stated position on the core issues affecting Europe.

It is in this context that we warmly welcome the decision of President Tusk to propose a leadership agenda for the next two years. According to information from Brussels, he has told different leaders that we need an end to individual initiatives and we must start being both inclusive and systematic in tackling the reform agenda. He has proposed an unprecedented seven Council meetings next year and has set out a series of core topics. He has given prominence to issues concerning investment in people, which we warmly support, through education, training and advanced research. This is an initiative the Government should also support. It seems the only way of ensuring that Europe is not driven by the dealing with whatever crisis it faces in any given month or year and that we have a mechanism where all countries have a role in shaping the European agenda.

Let me turn now to Brexit. As we saw yesterday during Leaders' Questions yesterday, the Taoiseach has adopted an approach of seeking out opportunities to make political jibes regarding Brexit. Instead of having the capacity to admit that he is changing policy or that he or his Government have withheld information, he appears to be bringing a new partisan edge to a topic where the approach has been largely consensual up to this point. In so doing, the Taoiseach is missing an opportunity to lead on what we all agree is one of the most important issues facing our country. As the Taoiseach knows, Brexit is an issue Fianna Fáil has been talking about since David Cameron opted for an in-out referendum. At every stage, we have called for candid and constructive discussion and have set out various proposals. Very soon after the result, our leader outlined a core policy of protecting Ireland's overriding national interests in the EU, seeking a special economic status for Northern Ireland and minimising the disruption to east-west trade, which we all know could cost thousands upon thousands of jobs, particularly in rural Ireland and around Border regions. In addition, our party leader was the first to raise the issue of the 1.7 million people in Northern Ireland having a continued right to EU citizenship post-Brexit and he persuaded the Taoiseach's predecessor to raise this at European Council level. My colleagues and I have held consultations throughout the island with communities and businesses that already feeling the hurt from Brexit and that rightly fear that much worse is on the way. In this context, the Taoiseach's partisan approach of recent weeks is not helping anybody, particularly as he is aware of the aggressively anti-EU approach of some elements in the Opposition. He is also aware that the special

economic status Fianna Fáil is advocating would remove the necessity for a border while also respecting the constitutional settlement. What we said at the weekend was that the Taoiseach needs to reach out to constructive interests in the UK and begin setting a foundation for later work. I recognise that this job is made more difficult for this Government in the absence of a Northern Ireland Assembly. It is staggering that the single biggest social and economic threat facing the people of Northern Ireland since the Troubles is happening in the absence of political leadership. We now have no nationalist political representation in Northern Ireland or Westminster. It is extraordinary that the future of Northern Ireland is being decided between the European Commission, the British Conservative Party and the DUP.

There is no reason to disagree with the Government's assessment that insufficient progress has been made to date and we support the Government's position in that recommendation to the Council meeting. Now that the Government has reversed its position of last week and stated publicly that different scenarios must be planned for, we call on it to ensure that all elements in this House are given proper briefings on what is being considered. As an example, the Taoiseach stated in response to Leaders' Questions recently that the leaked customs report was a 2015 report, it happened before Brexit and there was nothing to see. I received a physical copy of the report yesterday. On the front page, it said September 2016 so there are further questions to be answered there.

I would like to discuss adaptation funding and state aid because they are issues the Taoiseach and the Irish team in this European Council need to be all over. In his response to Deputy Michael McGrath a few minutes ago in this Chamber, the Taoiseach made the point that the Government has started discussions with the Directorate-General for Competition on state aid. My understanding is that those conversations started last autumn. The Taoiseach then went on to say that Brexit has not happened yet and that it is not possible to seek state aid exemptions for something that has not happened. This has been a metronymic call from the Taoiseach's party and Government - Brexit has not happened yet, we cannot put contingency plans in place because it has not happened yet and we cannot ask for state aid relaxation because Brexit has not happened. Brexit has happened. Irish firms lose competitiveness in the EU market at an exchange rate of about 90 cent to sterling. Over the past five years, the exchange rate has been at about 0.8, which means that the tens of thousands of Irish firms that trade with the UK can compete in the UK market. It jumped after the referendum from about 0.8 to 0.85.

It should be recalled that at a rate of 0.9, Ireland loses competitiveness. Since from around May it has been trending upwards towards 0.9. When I checked before coming into the Chamber, the exchange rate was 89 cent and some significant analysts are forecasting that the euro will move towards parity.

Brexit has happened. State aid rules relaxation and adaptation funding are needed now. The Irish indigenous sector will need three to five years to achieve market share in the European Union. They do not need the Government to return to them in three years' time when they will be out of business to state it has got something for them in state aid. When the Taoiseach meets the Heads of State, I implore him to make the case that Brexit happened for Irish firms a year ago and that they need adaptation funding and state aid rules relaxation immediately.

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