Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Is mór an onóir é feidhmiú mar ionadaí don phobal, do dhaonra Cheatharlach-Cill Chainnigh, agus do dhaonra na tíre mar Bhall den Tríocha-tríú Dáil. Gabhaim comhghairdeas le gach duine a bhí tofa agus le gach duine a bhí misniúil go leor chun iad féin a chur in iúl don toghchán. It is a great honour for me to represent my community, the people of Carlow-Kilkenny and indeed the people of this country in the Thirty-third Dáil. I congratulate all those who were elected and all who had the courage to put themselves forward for election.

The Green Party has had an interesting and challenging 12 days, engaging in collaborative dialogue with other parties and independent Deputies to explore common threads in policy which could lead to Government formation. While some parties have entrenched themselves towards opposition or oppose negotiating with others, we believe there is a collective responsibility on us all once elected to this House to provide stable and strong Government for the people of Ireland in these important years. For us, everything must change from here on in. We need to change how we organise our whole society, move from a linear to a circular economy, change our food, mobility, housing, health and energy systems, and empower communities to lead the change from the ground up, using creative practices. To achieve this, we must challenge the economic growth agenda and consider broader and alternative measures of the progress of our nation. It is no longer acceptable to hope that a rising tide will lift all boats. Invariably that leaves behind vulnerable groups like migrants, asylum seekers, Travellers and people with disabilities.

Equally, it does not address the ecological crisis. Billy Bragg put it well when he said: "Capitalism is like fire: keep it under control and it will give you heat and light; leave it untended and it will consume everything in its path." I hope we can work collaboratively and collectively, share views and legislate for the common good, with compassion and empathy, challenging the current paradigm with what Wolfgang Streeck terms eco-solidarity, whereby human rights and ecological principles are highly valued. This requires a co-operative and cultural revolution.

In regard to the European Council statement, the deal forged between the European Union and Turkey in 2016 to contain refugees within Turkey's borders is unravelling. A humanitarian crisis of our own making is taking place along the Turkish-Greek border, where tear gas is being used on men, women and children. The Russian-assisted Assad campaign in Idlib is forcing tens of thousands of people to flee as the Syrian conflict nears its bloody end. The level of human suffering is indescribable, yet the EU is set to spend €38.3 billion on border security between 2021 and 2027 and increase the number of Frontex border force guards to 10,000 within that timeframe. Imagine if we were able to sink that same level of investment into development aid, conflict resolution, climate adaptation and the global south. Some 18,000 souls have drowned along the world's deadliest border - the Mediterranean Sea. NGOs are being prosecuted for rescuing migrants, despite it being a matter of international law to rescue persons in distress. Civil society vessels have rescued as many as 40% of the 80,000 people rescued from search-and-rescue, SAR, zones. President Erdoğan is using the threat of allowing people to move across the Greek and Bulgarian borders in order to force the EU to back his campaign in Syria. This is, to say the least, sickening.

Free movement of people has been the cornerstone of the European project since its foundation but, obviously, this only applies to people who are economically useful to member states. This is surely what we rallied against with Brexit. Yet, of the 26 million people displaced overseas globally, 85% are living in the global south. The World Bank estimates that 143 million people are likely to be displaced internally within their own countries by 2050 due to the impacts of climate change. In Australia and California, we witnessed climate refugees from the developed world standing on beaches, waiting to be rescued as their homes burned behind them. Our German Green MEP colleague, Erik Marquardt, stood witness to the scenes in Lesbos, an island community that can no longer cope. The new European Council must adopt a new approach to the migrant and refugee issue because it will not go away. What we are standing over is shameful: statements of solidarity from the EU for Greece but not for the refugees. This is not the European Union that we, as Greens, value and cherish. It is not the European project based on peace and solidarity and has more in common with the wall erected by the Trump regime. These walls and barriers need to be torn down.

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