Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity once again to contribute to post-European Council statements. I appreciate the Taoiseach's full debriefing and look forward to the Minister of State's concluding remarks.

I will touch on a couple of matters that have already been raised by other Deputies in this debate, and I was fortunate to have the time to sit in for a little longer than usual. Before speaking to any other matter, I note the most important result of this European Council meeting is the final agreement on the multi-annual financial framework and the funding it will provide over the next few years throughout the Union. Where we see real importance and power with this is in the Covid-19 recovery fund and the collective desire and will of the entire Union to see an equal recovery across it. It is so vital to every member state, and not just those which have seen the most impact by the Covid pandemic, and we are all in this together. We all have that shared responsibility.

The ability of the European Central Bank now to issue eurobonds is important to provide that level of solidarity among member states. A Covid recovery needs a collective approach, as other Deputies have mentioned, with a proper equitable roll-out of a vaccine from the five vaccines secured by the European Commission heretofore. I welcome the Government's vaccine roll-out plan, which was announced yesterday, and I look forward to seeing that being taken up on a European level.

An element of reality must be added to this debate. Many people got very excited a week or so ago when the UK launched its vaccine slightly prematurely. People thought it was the start of the process but the number of vaccines made available was in the tens of thousands as opposed to the tens of millions. We need to be realistic, fair and straight with people that all these vaccines are not going to come in the next fortnight or month. All of us have a personal responsibility in social distancing, mask wearing, limiting contacts and hand hygiene. Everything is so important, not just through the festive period but for many weeks and months to come.

The second aspect of this budget is also very important and it demonstrates the power and strength of acting as a Union of 27 member states rather than simply one member state, or even a small member state, as in the case of Ireland. This is the Green New Deal and the very ambitious targets that have been set by the Union. It is therefore important that this Government continues to work with European partners to pursue such matters. This might include the Celtic interconnector linking Ireland and France for the purposes of energy supply or drawing down resources from the European Investment Bank to have proper approaches to the green development of our economy.

Another aspect is difficult for us who are members of Fine Gael. Deputy Smith made reference to the European People's Party and the ongoing connection of the group to Fidesz. I want to be clear on the floor of the Dáil that although Fidesz is currently suspended from the European People's Party, it is my very strong feeling it should be expelled and that process should be expedited. When it comes to the rule of law, the actions of both the Hungarian and Polish Governments have been absolutely deplorable. I welcome the funding stream and compromise of the budget but I regret that the rule of law aspects of this budget are not strong enough.

In saying this I give credit to the Minister of State for his comments at the Institute of International and European Affairs LGBTI+ event this week. It is important to see Ireland standing at the top table of the EU when it comes to the rule of law and rights of women, the LGBTI+ community, minorities or anybody who comes in. We must truly believe in that Europe of equals and equal opportunities.

One aspect that has not really been referred to in much depth is the conclusions of the European Council on security and the commitment of the European Council to double down on the levels of police and judicial co-operation across the Union. That applies to areas such as data sharing and the sharing of information to deal with dissident terrorist groups. Unfortunately, we know much about them on this island. There is also the question of the fundamentalist terrorists who have been active across Europe, and we send solidarity to all member state colleagues who have been a victim of any terrorist atrocity.

There is also the question of organised crime. We will debate legislation later in the Dáil relating to money laundering and counterfeiting and how this is factored into the activities of so many organised crime groups across the Continent. Organised criminals simply do not recognise borders, which we have seen both in the form of money laundering and new approaches to using cryptocurrency.

Yesterday there was the conviction of a certain individual in the Irish courts for money laundering to fund ongoing drug cartel activity in this State. This activity is fuelled by narcotics, weapons, information and, crucially, funding from across the European Union. If we are absolutely serious about tackling organised crime and the high level criminals who are absolutely terrorising our streets, piling misery on so many households that are pumped full of drugs, weapons, extortion practices and violence, we need to see a level of European co-operation. We must ensure the level of co-operation on security in the EU as a whole, along with the United Kingdom, is maintained post Brexit.

The House of Commons intelligence and security committee still receives reports of a severe level of threat from dissident terrorism in Northern Ireland. We must also see the importance of cross-territorial communication and co-operation between police forces and security agencies in tackling organised crime.

I will devote approximately 90 seconds to Brexit and this is not much less than the level of discussion of the subject at the European Council meeting.

I believe it was ten minutes all-in over dinner. The Minister might be able to go into a bit more detail, not necessarily on the formal discussions but on the informal conversations that happened on the margins either between himself and his other ministerial colleagues, the Taoiseach or with officials, about the state of play in the Brexit negotiations.

I welcome the comments by President von der Leyen this morning in the European Parliament that there is a pathway, albeit a narrow one, to a Brexit deal. It behoves all of the actors in this process, both British and European, to dedicate all of their energy to securing a Brexit deal in the coming days. To be honest, any such deal will not be good for Ireland, the EU or the United Kingdom but it will limit the damage. A no-deal scenario is so unbearably awful for all actors that it is important that we secure a deal, even if it is a thin one. Having a trade deal with the UK is of vital importance to so many workers and businesses across this country. I look forward to contributing tomorrow evening to the discussion on Brexit preparedness. Even as we go into recess for Christmas, I hope that Members of both Houses of the Oireachtas are kept fully abreast of any new developments in the negotiations and hopefully a post-Brexit agreement.

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