Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

As this is my maiden speech, it is customary for me to thank the people of Dublin Central who saw fit to send me here. I send them the warmest thanks. It will be through work done in the Chamber and outside it that I hope to validate the trust they placed in me.

I am happy that the first speech I get to make in the Chamber concerns the EU and our relationship with it. Like many Deputies, I am a supporter of our position within the EU. Since we joined in 1973, we have become a fundamentally different, and in many ways better, society. We have become more outward-looking, progressive and confident in who we are. That will become more evident now that our nearest neighbours have departed. We have a greater responsibility to be more assertive, to stand up for ourselves and not be subservient, and to demonstrate on the European stage the very best of what it means to be Irish. I am part of the first generation of Irish people to consider ourselves European. As we approach the negotiations for the new European financial framework, it is important that we assert ourselves and that we remember the values and what we hold dear. Often, such campaigns have to be green-jersey campaigns; they are not a time to take shots at one another unnecessarily. Nevertheless, when we have to, we should be able to stand up for what we believe we should hold dear. As my colleague, Deputy Cairns, noted earlier, it is essential that we stand up against the 14% cuts to CAP. Being a net contributor to the EU can be a source of pride for us. We benefited greatly from the EU and, therefore, it is important that we offer the same opportunities to those neighbours that have joined recently. It is also important in conversations about rebates for the more frugal member states to remember that rebates are a sad legacy of the British and should perhaps be ceased as the British remove themselves from the EU.

When I think about the EU, I think about what it was built on. It was built on the ideals of shared peace and prosperity. If that shared peace and prosperity is not extended to all, it will leave us in a more vulnerable position. The very ideals of the EU mean we must assert ourselves not only in conversations about the economy, or about how we allocate resources, or about the financial framework, but also in conversations about the Union, which we are a part of. When member states, including Ireland, fail, we should be able to pull one another up on those failings.

We can point to a number of such examples in the Union. One that comes to mind, which has not been mentioned in the debate, relates to the current circumstances in Poland. It is essential that we demonstrate solidarity with members of the LGBTQ+ community in Poland, who are experiencing the injustice of one third of Poland now describing itself as an LGBTQ+ exclusion zone. That is anathema to the Union and the ideals of shared peace and prosperity. Such exclusion zones mean that in one third of Poland, there is a restriction on the sharing of LGBTQ+ literature and information. Furthermore, there have been attacks on members of the community who have engaged in the Pride parade. We have to be vocal about that. There is a reason we have the Cohesion Fund and we commit our shared wealth to building up other nations, but that comes with a responsibility. Rule-of-law caveats are included in the charters of the EU, such as Article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, on freedom of expression and information. The Law and Justice Party in Poland, which has removed that right from the LGBTQ+ community, is in complete violation of that. Article 21 of the same charter, on the non-discrimination of people based on their sex or religion, concerns another right not being afforded to members of the LGBTQ+ community in Poland. If we are to build this Union together, we must demonstrate solidarity with people who do not experience that promised peace in Europe. We need to be vocal, not just by condemning it as the European Council and Parliament have, but by enforcing it in any way we can because it is simply unacceptable.

A point was well made several times earlier about the migration crisis being experienced on the borders of Europe. The conversations in the Chamber that pertain to the migration crisis are appropriate because in Ireland, we are uniquely qualified to talk about migration and the plight of migrants. We are a nation built on migration. Throughout our history when times were bad, we looked overseas and travelled to the US, Britain, Europe and further afield. We were often met with hostility. It is incumbent on who we are and our place in the world that when we see injustice happening to people fleeing their homes because of war, famine or the climate and ecological breakdown that is happening around the world, we demand they are met with compassion and a humanitarian response, but that is not happening. It is not happening on the border between Turkey and Greece or in the Mediterranean, but we cannot close our eyes to that. We have to stand up for those people.

Other injustices are happening in Europe. When we talk about the EU and the threats it faces, we talk about the rise of the far right, the climate crisis and what developments in technology will mean for our place in the world, but other, more bread-and-butter threats that we rarely speak of face the EU. They include the fact that 22.4% of people in the EU live in poverty or at risk of social exclusion.

A Union built upon the ideals of shared peace and prosperity cannot exist while 22.4% of its citizens, over 120 million people, are living in such precarious circumstances that mean they are finding it difficult to feed themselves, house themselves and look after their families. If we promise shared peace and prosperity, it must be for everybody, not just the wealthiest cohorts within the Union. That is a fundamental threat to the European Union. If we believe other people's poverty is no business of ours, I ask Members to look across the water to Anglesey, Holyhead and the ports of Wales where over 80% of our HGVs and exports previously went to. Holyhead is statistically the poorest part of the UK, with an average income of just over £15,000 per annum. Those people, despite being dependent on exports for their existence, voted to leave the European Union because they were not feeling the warmth of Europe. Poverty and exclusion are a threat to the European Union. If we believe ourselves to be involved in this and to be intrinsically connected, we must be able to acknowledge that, seek to confront it and see it as a genuine threat to the fundamental values we hold dear.

I have highlighted the injustices that are experienced throughout the rest of Europe and I want to say we have our own injustices in Ireland also. In my maiden speech, I want to acknowledge the documentary that was on television on Tuesday evening about redress for survivors of institutional abuse. It once again highlighted the failure this State has afforded to victims of institutional abuse and incarceration that happened since the foundation of our State. Whoever takes on the role of Taoiseach must fulfil the promises that were made 20 years ago by former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and in 2013 by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny that we would acknowledge, show respect towards and deliver for people who have experienced those injustices. That has to be a challenge for the next Taoiseach. I am putting this Chamber on notice that this must be the last Dáil where people who have experienced such injustice within our State are neglected. We need to deliver on those promises.

We are not too far away from the Republic that we have promised. Our future is intrinsically connected to the European Union and I look forward to engaging in these discussions in the future and to seeing this Chamber as a place of delivery moving forward.

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