Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. EU leaders will meet at a crucial juncture. I will raise a number of issues. As we emerge from the pandemic, we have to plot our way ahead carefully and thoughtfully. The Council will meet in June, which is the month of Pride. I cannot let this opportunity go to reiterate our abhorrence towards the discriminatory and bigoted approach adopted by the Hungarian Government in respect of LGBT+ citizens. I know the Commission is investigating this matter but there have to be consequences for Governments that behave in this way.

As we rebuild, there are opportunities and challenges. The challenge is to rebuild an economy which is better, stronger and fairer for everyone. There cannot be a return to the old economy which served a privileged few at the top but failed ordinary workers and families. We can do better and we must do better. The focus of our recovery must be on jobs that are secure and well-paid. Businesses will need to be supported to protect existing jobs and create new ones. The future is a new green, sustainable economy which can preserve our environment for future generations. We need a balanced economy, in which rural communities get their fair share of jobs, growth and investment. We need a specific focus on micro, small and medium businesses, which form the backbone of our economy and economies across Europe.

When we look to the North, we need to work through the challenges and maximise the opportunities of the Irish protocol because business wants the protocol to work and expects political leaders to work together to deliver solutions to the practical challenges they face. All political parties, bar one, are doing this. The joint committee has an important job to do. Neither the DUP nor David Frost speak for the majority of people in the North of Ireland, whether MLAs, businesses or, crucially, citizens on any of these matters.

Nobody wants recurring extensions of grace periods, which only kick the can further down the road and fail to provide the essential certainty and stability businesses and all of us need. Through dialogue and engagement, solutions can and must be found and delivered.

We must also highlight the opportunities the protocol brings to the North. It places the North in a unique position in respect of access to markets and we need to explore what that can mean for investment and growth. This week, one of the largest businesses in the North, Dale Farm, won a contract to supply ingredients to a major European company. InvestNI has spoken of the significant interest it has had from outside investors sparked by the opportunities of the protocol. There are success stories but we do not often hear them.

Leaders at the European Council must be in no doubt that contrary to the loudest doomsday voices, the silent majority in the North supports the protocol. All of us across the island recognise its necessity and that needs to be made clear at the European Council.

The Council also has an important opportunity to challenge the injustice of the Common Fisheries Policy, a policy that has been devastating for our fishing community. The Government has sat idly by while a situation has developed in which Ireland has 12% of the waters in the EU but our fishing communities are only allowed to catch 4% of the fish. This costs our State thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of euro worth of seafood every year. The Common Fisheries Policy must be revisited. In the short term, we need equal burden sharing of the loss of fish quotas arising from the EU-British trade and co-operation agreement among the fishing fleets of all member states. The current situation is unreasonable and Europe must address it. Ireland must stand up for our fishing communities at the European Council.

The Taoiseach again mentioned the Palestinian situation. I have said this to him previously, but I wish to say it again. It is not enough for Europe simply to restate positions and support for a peace process and for a two-state solution. The challenge for Europe is much more profound than that. In the face of Israel consistently flouting and breaching international law and in the face of what is an apartheid regime in Israel, what will Europe do? It is not a question of what it will say, but what it will do. What will we do? What will the international community do to bring this to a head and to ensure that Palestinian lives matter, that Palestinian self-determination is realised and that this open wound in the heart of the Middle East that affects all international diplomacy but above all has devastated the lives of men, women and children who have the right to a homeland, who have the right to peace and security, and who have the right to have their human and democratic rights recognised and vindicated? What will Europe do? The Taoiseach should ask that question because that is the question on the lips of Irish people.

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