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

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter. On security, there are many headwinds blowing at present in respect of the Mercosur deal. Irish farmers would be unduly affected by this deal and I urge the Government to oppose it.

On tariffs, while it will be Europe that will decide the number and type of products that will attract tariffs, we must remember that the 60% of, for example, distillers' grain that comes to Europe comes to Ireland. Speaking to grain importers, if this comes in, along with a tariff on maize, it will add something like €40 or €50 per tonne to the cost of meal. I urge our Ministers to bring this forward at European level in order that it will not happen. The whiskey industry and other industries are also at serious risk.

On security, last year or the year before two of our naval ships unable to leave port for the simple reason that we did not have the manpower to allow them to do so. The first thing we need to do is ensure retention and take on more staff. The second thing we need to do is obtain proper vessels to allow us to patrol our own waters. I agree with spending money on this, but we need to separate the wood from the trees. It is one thing to protect your own country, the underwater cables located off the coast and so on. We need ensure we put money into that. However, it is totally different to talk about putting €700 million into a budget in Europe when the likes of Germany only has to put in €2 billion. Our population is 15 times smaller than that of Germany. What is proposed in this regard does not make sense.

There was a vote in Europe in the past ten days. Some Government MEPs voted in a particular way. Fianna Fáil MEPs later changed their votes and our Independent MEPs basically abstained. We need to decide where we are going when it comes to neutrality. The Government is elected by the people to represent the people. Anything that is being done in respect of neutrality needs to be put to the people in a referendum. At the end of the day, it is the people of this country that put each and every one of us here. We should respect that in the context of our neutrality.

Unfortunately, Europe seems to be a hurler on the ditch when it comes to the negotiations on Ukraine that are taking place at present. Tactically, it has not manoeuvred itself properly in order to be more involved.

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