Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I suppose there was a time when many Irish people would consider a European Council meeting as being largely irrelevant to their lives but in the past five years, with Brexit and now the war in Ukraine, people recognise that decisions taken at a European Council impact significantly on their lives. Up until then, most Irish people were benignly supportive of the EU and thinking in terms of CAP, European funds etc. In the past five years, there is greater recognition of the role of the EU in global affairs, whether it is the war in Ukraine, reining in the tech companies, tax justice, energy or food security, because those issues are now top priority for everybody. In that context, we are maturing as a country in our relationship with the EU. That is good because we can then look at the realities, the benefits and the challenges of EU membership. It also helps to prevent misinformation spreading about EU policy. On too many occasions, I have heard politicians take a specific issue and twist it into something unrecognisable just for their own narrow political purposes.

The EU makes many mistakes. It gets stuff wrong, but there is a greater sense that this is now our community and it will help us to navigate a number of global threats.

Speaking of global threats, obviously, food and energy security top the list. As Deputy Howlin said, we had a good discussion today on food security at the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. A number of the Council proposals I agree with, but it was pointed out that land-based transport not only will perhaps deliver 50% of what we need but there will obviously be greater costs there. The significant increase in the cost of the importation of fertilisers was raised and that certainly is a matter that needs action from Government.

Everybody is worried about energy security and the cost of energy. I echo the words of many of my colleagues here today. People need to see some certainty about that for the next few months. Crucially, businesses need to see certainty about the cost of business and the cost of energy to do business.

See this speech in context