Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Harkin. The Brexit talks are rapidly coming to a head and we see from reports this week that there are only really two items holding up agreement. One of those happens to be fishing. We in the north west and in all coastal communities around the country are waiting to see what will happen. Perhaps the British are using it to push for concessions on other matters from the EU. If that is the case, what would be the quid pro quo? If the deal comes, the question as to whether it will be of benefit to Ireland is vitally important too.

I am not so sure we should be confident that the EU is going to look after our fishing interests. It has not done so in the past. We are well down the EU pecking order in respect of fishing and it would not be beyond the EU to do a deal that looks after France, Spain and the Netherlands and leaves us behind. Would that be the trade-off in respect of the Border? Those are the things we need to know. The fishing communities know full well that the EU has never had our best interests at heart. Nor has our Government but that is another matter entirely.

The EU Council is pushing for more and more militarisation. What is our role going to be in that? We have troops already in Mali, Libya is very prominent in the EU's sights now and Mozambique appears to be next in line for EU troops. The Portuguese Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, said there was a terrorist and jihadist insurgency there and that he was confident that the EU will respond positively to the Mozambican request for military help. Maybe the EU could work towards the elimination of some of the root causes of terrorism instead such as insecurity, poverty, exclusion, unemployment, environmental degradation, corruption and the misuse of public funds, thereby contributing to the eradication of the terrorist organisations. Such measures would respond to the needs of the Mozambican people, preventing them from being vulnerable targets of radicalisation through creating jobs and opportunities for young people. It is important that the local population benefits from the exploitation of the natural resources which Mozambique possesses in abundance. From the 1990s, the Mozambican elite was told the free market would end poverty and that by becoming rich they were helping the poor because wealth would trickle down to the poorest. How long before there is an Irish contingent on a EU mission helping to prop up a corrupt elite and defending the interests of transnational mining and petrochemical corporations in Mozambique? That is a question that should be asked at the next Council.

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