Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, am glad to speak today to statements on these pre-European Council meetings.

Ar an gcéad dul síos, I warmly congratulate my namesake and good friend and colleague through the years, the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, on his nomination to the position of Commissioner. I welcome that nomination. I hope that the different political machinations and interactions with colleagues all over Europe on the fringes of the European Council will ensure he is given a high powered and prestigious economic post because he is an accountant by trade in addition to being an exceptional TD and serving as Minister. I hope he will get a post that befits him. I wish him well in that. I hope the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, will lobby their respective groups for such a position. That would be beneficial because, while he will be a Commissioner for all of Europe, he will cast a caring eye over Éire.

The ongoing situation in Gaza is just abominable. Last week, an unfortunate injured man was strapped to the bonnet of an army jeep and driven down the road. It is just horrific. There are no bounds to what the Israelis will do. In some ways, our voice is being lost. As Deputy Crowe said, some accuse us of being supporters of Hamas. We are anything but. We could not envisage being supporters of Hamas because we remember the horrific attack it carried out at the start of this and the many attacks it has carried out over decades. We cannot be a patsy for Hamas.

Over the past couple of years, as both Taoiseach and Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin has made a number of comments as to our outdated neutrality and outdated wording. He also sent bandwagons to four or five meetings around the country. He rounded up all the NGOs, the usual suspects and a specially picked chair to change something that has served us well in previous wars and with other issues. We had more clout and were more respected when we maintained focus on the considered position of being neutral and on the assistance we gave and the part Irish soldiers played in many conflicts all over the world from the operation in the Congo and on to many others since then. It is shameful that the men who fought in that famous battle at Jadotville in the Congo still have not got the recognition they deserve. One of those people died recently. Many are elderly and infirm. They should get that recognition. In some cases, we are not able to get justice for people here in Ireland. Perhaps European co-operation could give us the nudge needed to give them the respect they deserve for their heroic deeds in that battle when they held off an opposing force for so long. The story has been well told but they have not been recognised.

To get back to tomorrow's meetings, we need to assert ourselves more independently and ardently in European affairs and at the European level. In comparison to the debate on the migration pact here, it was debated segment by segment over ten years at the European level. We could learn a lot from the way the Europeans do their business, although many of us reject much of what is passed over there. Some of the outgoing MEPs have suggested that 75% of legislation here comes in from Europe but at least the European institutions debate it and discuss it segment by segment. We are taking the whole package of the migrant pact without debating it segment by segment, without having any questions answered, without any worthwhile legal or parliamentary scrutiny and with indecent haste to get it through. I suppose the vote will pass tonight and the Taoiseach or whoever is attending will go off cocksure to say that we are once again the great boys of Europe and that we passed this pact without even questioning it. That is what we like to be in Europe. It is damaging to ourselves to be seen as lapdogs or lackeys that just take whatever we are given. We will not have the respect of other countries if we do not stand up for ourselves, our nation and our people, which is our duty under the Constitution.

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