Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

President von der Leyen is welcome to Ireland. As a supporter of the old EEC, I wonder where we are going in the EU. This is for the simple reason that, in my opinion, the European Union is like marriage; it is either love or divorce. People either buy into everything or they do not. I welcome what President von der Leyen said about the UK. We need the UK, especially in the agricultural sector which, unfortunately, has not been mentioned today. I listened to President von der Leyen speak about freedom. Every time we ask a question of any government it tells us it has to ask the EU, whether it is about VAT or tax. No matter what it is, environmental law or whatever, we have to ask the EU whether we can do something. It seems to be our master. We do not have our freedom or our own nationality, unfortunately, if that is the situation.

President von der Leyen spoke about heritage and tradition. At present, EU law is taking a lot of heritage and tradition away from the people of this country. I know there were benefits to the old EEC. I would never deny that. Unfortunately, if we look at the likes of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, the budget has decreased. With the policy being pursued at present by the EU, under the green agenda and the food policy, a country such as Ireland and the EU will end up having food shortages within the next seven to ten years with the agenda being pushed on the agricultural sector.

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