Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Duncan Smith.

Europe Day is one of the forgotten holidays. Many people do not know what or why it is, or even that it is being celebrated on 9 May. There is some idea that there is a vague connection with the Ode to Joy all right, but that is where the interest stops. I was lucky that at my old school the German teacher, Anita Irwin, makes a point of celebrating and highlighting Europe Day every year. She has had two MEPs in to meet the students in the past two years based on her passion for the day and the importance of celebrating our shared goals and values. In a world that is as it has been in the past couple of months, Ireland's membership of the European Union is more critical to our future than it ever has been.

We have benefited almost uniquely from our membership since 1973. We went from rural and agricultural economy to a high-tech services-based economy. We often forget that regardless of what we do with corporation tax, the fundamental reason for economic growth in the past 30 years is our access to the EU Single Market, a single market that we have yet to fully implement. In a world where the Trump Administration is looking to put tariff barriers up, we, as member states, should be looking to remove barriers among ourselves, particularly in the service sector to create a truly integrated market so we can increase trade among the member states. We can no longer have 27 separate regulation systems for 27 member states and wonder why Europe cannot produce a Google or an Apple, something that can be worldwide. Negotiations need to open on the harmonisation of these regulations particularly in the digital space.

It was Europe and the promises that it can hold that actually got me into politics. It was the revised Lisbon treaty that got me to stop hurling on the ditch, get out the street and get involved as I fundamentally believed, and still do, that European solidarity is something to celebrate. That solidarity served Ireland well during the Brexit negotiations to ensure that there were no checkpoints put on this island. Without EU backing, it is hard to say that we would have had the same outcome if it was us negotiating directly with our neighbours. I found it hugely concerning that those who opposed the likes of the Nice and Lisbon treaties did not put forward an alternative vision of how Ireland would trade without Single Market access.

It seemed to me that the attitude was that we would cross that bridge when we got to it. We no longer have to wonder what would have happened. We can look at what happened with our nearest neighbours following Brexit. There was no plan and the British Office for National Statistics has said that in the long term the UK will experience a 15% reduction in trade as a consequence of the barriers it put up post Brexit.

A number of Members of the House and Irish MEPs still question whether it was a good idea to join the euro. I look at their position and the damage it would cause Ireland with the same withering scepticism that they seem to look at the European project. I am not dogmatic enough to believe that everything is perfect and rosy in the European system. Europe is a story of two steps forward and one step back. It will always need to be refined and reformed. At a meeting with the delegation of Denmark today we, along with Deputy Lahart, discussed how it is necessary that others not pre-empt or dictate the future of Europe based on the unanimity rule. Despite all of its detractors, the EU has kept peace between member states since 1945. Further co-operation, as outlined under the Treaty of Rome, and the promises contained in the Treaty of Rome need to be fulfilled so that we can ensure the sustainability of Ireland and the European Union into the future.

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