Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is good to have an opportunity to speak on this particular conference. A number of things come to mind that we need to comment on at this particular time. Needless to say, I do not go the way of the previous speaker. I would recommend Leon Uris's book on the subject, which entails a fairly broad description of the founding of Israel and what it is today. I do not agree with many of the things Israel has done - I totally disagree with them - but we need to be very careful not to pander on the side of suggesting that there may be a reason to level the scores in some way or fashion. We need to be cautious about that because it is a dangerous place to go.

I compliment the Taoiseach and the Minister of State for their work in attending to their duties in the European context. On the Northern Ireland protocol, it is sad that we find ourselves at a juncture where the European Union has gone out of its way to accommodate the concerns expressed by our friends across the water in the UK. It appears that they will not accept it no matter what happens. A crucial issue is the failure to accept the European court's primacy in areas of dispute. What is the alternative to that? Do we set up a whole new courts system that will be in accordance with what our UK friends want, or do we assume that the UK in future will not adhere to any agreement it has entered into and cannot be relied upon to carry out and observe what it has signed? There are many people who believe that that was always UK policy. There is some foundation to that and, unfortunately, it has been confirmed in recent times. My humble submission is that times have changed. That is the case right across Europe with regard to Poland, Hungary and all the other countries as well. Times are not the same as they were. We must not forget that we transferred from what was essentially a set of communist countries on the one side, and previous to that they transitioned from imperial states that had no regard for democracy at all.

There has to be a coming together of minds on this issue. There has to be some recognition of a level playing field whereby the European Union stands for fairness, democracy and benign authority. The benign bit is the important aspect of that. That does not mean that we should not question things. We have to ensure that the European Union is at all times in accord with the wishes of the people within it. I had occasion last evening to mention the money laundering legislation, which creates some problems for a lot of people. It creates problems for us in this country. I mentioned this already on the Order of Business with the Taoiseach. We are unique in the sense that in Ireland we have directly elected Members of the national Parliament. That means that every Member who comes into our Parliament has the right to represent the people who elect them directly. In European countries that does not necessarily apply. In many countries there are people appointed to parliament and ministries and so on. I am not in favour of that particular prospect. The European Union, as an entity, needs to realise that there is a lot of reading to be done on the rights of individuals and in particular the rights of Members of Parliament.

There is no situation whereby we should be maligned in the course of European legislation, which suggests that members of Parliament are high-risk with regard to corruption.

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