Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I noted a section of the Taoiseach's speech at Leuven. He said:

The Europe of the future must do four things:1. Continue to do well what it currently does well.

2. Focus on the big new challenges facing Europe and its citizens.

3. Consider its competencies - not everything has to be done at European level; where appropriate, some things should be left to member states, regions and municipalities.

4. Engage citizens more.

Whereas we have a very different analysis of many aspects of the European Union, I believe approaching EU reform and the debate on that reform and change on those four grounds is a sound approach.

As currently framed, however, the debate does not focus on many of the main issues of contention for citizens. In this time of political flux following Brexit and the other issues of concern with the outlooks of certain states, there is a danger that a very simplistic narrative might be peddled by some that a federal Europe can ameliorate the ills of the European Union. The first flaw in this argument is that so many recent studies show a consistent majority of citizens in Europe who support not the transfer of further powers to Brussels but, rather, the contrary. For our part, Sinn Féin wants to see an EU that is guided by democratic principles and based on the premise that it is by states working together as equals on matters of mutual interest that we can best serve all citizens of the EU. As witnessed by our extensive efforts on Brexit, we believe that Ireland's place is at the heart of Europe. However, this does not mean we will ignore failures of the European institutions as they relate to Ireland. What is required going forward, in line with the sentiment of the Taoiseach's third point, which I read out, is for powers to be left with member states, but not only that: we should interrogate whether some powers might be transferred back to member states. The European Union needs to begin listening to citizens in a genuine way and to uphold their interests. We need to move away from a very bureaucratic, centralised model which benefits the few towards a social Europe which reflects the interests of ordinary workers and families. This is the only way we will address the imbalance of power and the democratic deficit at the heart of the European project.

In the spirit of the four principles he enunciated, what does the Taoiseach have to say, for example, on the issue of protecting Ireland's position of military neutrality and an independent, progressive foreign policy? What does he have to say, or what is his starting point, on advancing a debate in respect of social solidarity and equality? What is his big idea - or the big idea of the Government - in a Brexit scenario and then a post-Brexit scenario, of bridging that very deep democratic deficit that some might argue - and convincingly - was a major trigger and contributing factor to the success of the Tory Brexit campaign?

See this speech in context