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

Europe Day is a day celebrating peace and unity. I echo that - a day celebrating peace and unity - given all that is going on in the world, all that we have seen on television screens and all that has been experienced by the people of Palestine, not only over the past 24 hours or the past week, but for many decades. We should be cognisant of talking about how we celebrate a day of peace and unity while 27 people were killed last night, including nine children, but I will talk about Europe.

Europe is often talked about as a peace project. In many ways, it has been a very successful peace project. I am somebody who considers himself, in addition to being a proud Dub and a proud Irish person, a proud European. I believe that Europe, on the whole, has been good for Ireland. When we joined in 1973, Ireland was a predominantly agrarian society more connected to the 19th century than to the 20th century. From 1973 onwards, we accelerated ourselves more into the 21st century and left many of our neighbours and contemporaries in Europe far behind in terms of the type of society that we have created here that is modern, forward-thinking, progressive and outward-looking.

There have been stand-out moments in our relationship with the European Union, the most important of which, for me and for all of us here who value our peace on this island, was the support and solidarity that was given to the Irish people throughout the lead up to the Good Friday Agreement. That will live long in memory. While that peace is still very much a process, the somewhat stability we have on this island is a recognition of that contribution.

In terms of the past 24 months of Ireland's pathway toward and engagement in the withdrawal negotiations as Britain sought to leave the European Union, there is an old saying in international diplomacy that the strong do what they will while the weak suffer what they must. It is fair to say that during the withdrawal negotiations, Ireland's position certainly was not weak. We were able to stare our neighbours in the eye confidently and, I would argue, more strongly and that was due to our relationship with the European Union.

The Taoiseach stated that European is not perfect. It is far from perfect. The rate in the European Union of those at risk of poverty or social exclusion stands at 21%. Poverty is the greatest threat to the European Union. When I walk along where we are at present in the heart of what was once - and still is to some degree but not the same way as I remember it - Dublin's docklands, I think about when I used travel with my family on holidays to Pwllheli where we would often go through Holyhead. I often take the ferry and head over to Holyhead. Holyhead is a place that I have lots of great memories of. It was only in later years I learnt that Holyhead and the province of Anglesey where it is located is statistically the poorest part of the United Kingdom. Twenty-two per cent of the children born in Anglesey and Holyhead are at risk of or in poverty. The people of Holyhead chose to vote in favour of Brexit. Despite the fact that they were entirely dependent upon trade and exports for their livelihoods, they still chose Brexit and a shot into the unknown because of a European Union which had moved towards economic principles that were, they felt, and many would agree, strongly against their interests. A shot in the dark was better than the reality of what they were experiencing.

Poverty is the greatest threat to the European Union. The European Union has too often turned its back on the real-life experiences of those who have resided within its borders. A fruit of that poison orchard for me is what is seen in the rise of the far right. People manipulating communities who have been to the fore of collectivism and telling them that other people were the cause of their ills while being backed up by powerful forces within the European Union is a poison fruit of that orchard. I utterly refuse, however, to accept that the same communities, which are always to the forefront of embracing collectivism, which have been the ones who were the first in terms of accepting diversity and welcoming in people from foreign shores, be they fleeing persecution or simply looking to build a better life for themselves or their families, are the ones who have been advancing this hatred within the European Union; far from it.

It is people in positions of power and influence such as Viktor Orbán in Hungary or those in Poland whose far-right principles have been accommodated, to some degree, in terms of their denigration of LGBT+ communities and their efforts to lobby to remove gender equality from EU statements. We must condemn and confront the far right, wherever it may be, whether on the streets or in the European Parliament.

I echo the sentiment already expressed that while Europe Day is a day celebrating peace and unity, there can be absolutely no peace and unity if the EU refuses to take a position of strength in calling what is happening in Israel, Jerusalem and the occupied territories exactly what it is, which is an annexation. It needs to be called that; otherwise the EU's claim to be a Union built on peace and unity is a fraud. We cannot put a fortress around our own peace and unity and commend ourselves on 9 May every year while people in the occupied territories in Palestine are being bombed. The median age of the population in the Gaza Strip is 17 years and seven months. When the Government of Israel chooses to drop bombs on the Gaza Strip, it is willingly killing children. If the European Union, and Ireland as a member state, are not willing to call that out and stand against that injustice in the strongest possible terms, then the very purpose of the Union is rendered obsolete. I call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Taoiseach to take the strongest line on this and to call this annexation for what it is. Ireland must use its power, position and influence to condemn, in the fullest terms, the Government of Israel for its treatment of the Palestinian people. We must say "No more", draw a line in the sand and demonstrate fortitude on this issue.

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