Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé thar a bheith bródúil labhairt ar an ábhar seo. Tá sé tábhachtach dúinn mar thír, ach tá sé tábhachtach domsa freisin mar Theachta Dála. The value that we have as part of the European Union is enormous, so I am hugely proud to consider myself a European but also to speak on this topic in this House, in the week when we celebrate Europe Day. I am cognisant of the fact that 91% of people in Ireland value our membership of the European Union. That is the highest rate of support that the European Union has in any European country. For me, the European Union is important because we as a country achieved independence 100 years ago but when you look back to 1922, you could certainly say that it was a very qualified independence. We still had the British monarch as the head of state in this country. We still had a situation where we were tied to sterling in monetary affairs. The UK was a massive part of our export market and we were very economically dependent on it. Similarly, looking at the courts, decisions made by UK courts were still binding on judges in this jurisdiction.

It has taken us a long time to emerge from that level of independence and to be a truly sovereign country where we genuinely make our decisions and we genuinely stand on our own two feet. There is no doubt that being part of the European Union has allowed us to do that in a tangible way. Post Independence, we still had a foreign head of state. It was not until we had our own Constitution that we started to assert our independence. With the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, which came into effect in 1949, which was the thirty-third anniversary of the Rising, we started to assert our real independence and really stand on our own feet. On 15 February 1971, our currency was changed to the decimal system, marking the end of hundreds of years of trading in crowns, shillings and pence. Other countries such as France have been doing this since the 18th century, but this was the first opportunity for Ireland to break away from the imperial monetary system in the United Kingdom and establish our independence in that regard.

In 1973, we joined the European Union, along with Denmark and the United Kingdom. That was an important turning point for Ireland, saying that we no longer lived in the shadow of the United Kingdom but instead joined this bigger trading bloc and group of nations, of which there were 12 at the time, as an equal member. We had equality with France, Germany and other enormous European states. We joined as equal partners, which was very different from the relationship we had with the United Kingdom at that time. It was a further step down the road of independence for us. With the European monetary system in 1979, we genuinely severed the tie between the Irish pound and sterling and started to advance our own cause. Looking at where we are today, in 1973, imports into this country were valued at £1.4 billion and exports at £1.1 billion, while in 2020, imports were valued at €85.3 billion and exports exceeded €160 billion. Even accounting for inflation, that is an enormous economic turnaround. The trade opportunities that we have as part of the European Union are massive.

The opportunities we have from the basic European principle of free movement of people are also massive. Some 8.8% of Irish people of working age live in other European member states. A total of 35,000 Irish people are working in Germany and 25,000 Irish people are working in France. That opportunity is there because we are part of that larger Union and we have the opportunity to work within the European Union as equal member states and partners. The benefits are beyond dispute and important. There are cultural benefits. Many of the progressive laws that we have passed in the State have been handed down to us by the European Union, whether health and safety legislation, road safety legislation, employment rights or equal human rights. They have often come from our MEPs and Commissioners in Europe, through directives and other European instruments, to force us into doing that. We all benefit from that. European laws save lives here through food safety and work safety. There are literally people alive in this country because of the European Union. That is particularly important when looking at the fact that the European Union was a peace project.

Let us not take it for granted either. I heard already in this debate a discussion about Sinn Féin's role in European policy. The reality is that Sinn Féin has voted against everything the European Union has tried to do. It has opposed every referendum to advance our position within the European Union. I do not think Sinn Féin should resile from that. It should be honest about its opposition to it instead of trying to reform itself. If Sinn Féin is truly European, great, but let us also recognise that Europe does not happen by accident. We have to play our part and contribute. I am proud that Ireland does that and look forward to us doing it more and more in the future.

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