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

It is, as ever, a pleasure to take part in these annual statements on Europe Day. As has been referenced by many, this is an especially important Europe Day as we mark 50 years from the date on which when the Irish people voted massively for Ireland to join the then European Economic Community, EEC, which I fundamentally believe was perhaps the most important decision taken in the State's young history. We should all aspire to our continuing membership of the European Union for another 50 years as a proactive member.

I will not caveat my remarks in this speech. I will not focus, as others may, on unelected bureaucrats or try to find the one or two negatives because we know that the vast majority of Irish people are in favour of our continuing membership of the European Union and recognise that it is has been beneficial for Ireland to be part of the European Union. The events of recent months and years, including the war in Ukraine, the pandemic and the impacts of Brexit, have really hammered home for many people how important our continuing membership of the EU is for all people. It is not some capitalist agenda. It is something for everyone.

As one of the Oireachtas delegates to the Conference on the Future of Europe, I fundamentally believe the recommendations coming out of that should be embraced not just by the European Commission and European parliamentarians, but also by member state governments. However, I have some concerns in terms of where Irish people may be a little bit concerned. I know the Minister of State has already read through some of the findings of the wonderful RedC opinion poll, commissioned by European Movement Ireland. The overall finding - that 88% of Irish people support Ireland's continuing membership of the EU - is of course heartening to see. However, there is a bit of a worry that needs to be addressed. The level of support is not as high among females as it is among males; it is 90% among males and 80% among females. In my own age category, the 36- to 44-year-old group, just 83% of people are in favour. That needs to be reflected on as the Minister of State continues his work, but also in terms of dealing with EU jobs, communicating Europe and everything else. The poll also found that 79% of people think EU membership has been beneficial to Ireland. It is an absolutely wonderful result but there is again a disparity because this view is shared by 85% of males and just 73% of females. That desperately needs addressing and reflection. It is very interesting that among the 45- to 54-year-old group, just 71% have that positivity. These figures are all part of the challenges when we talk about communicating Europe.

It is wonderful that we have these annual speeches about Europe Day. It is an opportunity to say whatever we want because everything comes back to our role in the EU. It can be about agriculture, workers' rights, the economy, defence, security or whatever the topic du jouris. Ultimately, every day we talk about our role within the European Union. In our role as domestic politicians, it is often handy to do what various Ministers from my own party and others have been guilty of in the past, which is to look for the very easy punching bag that is the EU. If we are bringing in legislation that might not be very popular, we can say it is something that has to be done because of Brussels. When funding is announced, however, that is said to be an achievement of the Government regardless of what role the European Commission or other member states have played. We have to reflect on that in our language and sometimes in our desperate search for headlines or indeed criticism for the sake of criticism. It is okay to be positive, to talk about the good things and to see the Minister of State and many other Ministers travelling to schools throughout the country with ambassadors for Europe Day, for example through the blue star programme or the European Parliament access programme. It is okay to be positive and to talk about how different things were for my own parents' generation, the generation of the marriage bar, when the thought of going to Spain on a two-week holiday without having to change money was simply foreign.

One of the key issues facing all of Europe is the rule of law. We talk about the rule-of-law crisis in certain EU member states. I am happy to name Hungary as being one of them. We talk about the brutal abuse of international law by the Russian Federation as it invades Ukraine. Once again, we have to raise our concern that unnamed sources in the British media are saying that the British Government is prepared to break international law and to use domestic legislation to override an international treaty in terms of the protocol. Neither this Government, anyone in this Parliament nor the European Commission can stand by that. I urge the Minister of State and his Government colleagues to continue to be strong with European colleagues to face down the British Government in its attempts to override the commitments it made.

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