Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Táim buíoch as ucht an cuireadh a thabhairt dom an tseachtain seo. I am actually pleased to come to the Seanad today to reflect a little on recent developments at European level and to consider what lies ahead, including during Ireland's Presidency of the European Council, which, as Senators know, will be from 1 January to the end of June next year. I am also here to listen.

The Government is committed to enhancing the role of the Houses of the Oireachtas in the conduct of EU business. I have made it my business to brief the Dáil ahead of each meeting of the European Council and to return to report the outcome afterwards. I know the Minister of State for European Affairs has appeared regularly in this House and that Senators have made a significant contribution to the work of the Joint Committee on European Affairs, which is doing excellent work. It is absolutely right and necessary that this should be the case. There is no longer any meaningful distinction to be made between domestic policy and European policy; European policy and law are domestic policy and law. Given the circumstances in which the country finds itself, it is all the more important that our policies and instruments at national and European level pull in the same direction.

It is absolutely clear that the Government's highest priority, leading this country into recovery and out of our programme, can be achieved only if the right policies are pursued, both here and across the Union. Put simply, Irish recovery needs European recovery. Last week, we saw the troika confirm again that Ireland is delivering on all of its programme commitments. As it observed, "implementation remains strong in a challenging environment". That challenging environment remains a major risk to our continuing progress. We are small, and domestic demand was never going to be sufficient to lift us back up to where we want to be.

Our ability to restore growth depends on our capacity to export, which means finding partners willing and able to buy what we produce. We have done what we can to drive this, including through improving our competitiveness. Members will be aware that Ireland is among the top 20 globally in terms of competitiveness. However, as the troika acknowledged, weak trading partner growth is damaging export demands.

Ireland needs stability and an end to the euro drama and crisis. We need strong leadership and a credible growth agenda at European level, an agenda that is implemented in deed as well as word. That is what the Government has been working towards. That is what will be right at the heart of our Presidency when we take over at the tiller next year.

Since taking office last year, I have attended nine meetings of the European Council, or meetings of Heads of Government, including some informal ones, and six meetings of the euro summit. Whereas people looking in from outside might sometimes criticise what they regard as the slow pace and lack of progress, I see a process in which ideas that began on the fringe have come to occupy the centre ground.

We have not always been as quick or decisive as some, including me, might have liked but we are charting new territory - the Union had no emergency tools available to it when the crisis began - and people approach the table with very different perspectives. It is not an easy task to reconcile the very different views and interests to hammer out a compromise. Senators are well aware that, with 27 member states, 27 Prime Ministers, 27 governments whose tenures of office are of widely varying stability, and very different perspectives, it is often difficult to reach an agreement on what the strategy should be. This is also the case in the eurozone, where there are 17 Prime Ministers and 17 governments, in addition to one bank whose governors have very independent views.

We should never underestimate the extent and importance of what has been achieved, including at the most recent meeting of the European Council and summit at the end of June. I approached that meeting with two particular goals and I set these out in the letter I wrote to all other Heads of State or Government on 7 June. I wanted to see agreement reached on a growth pact for Europe and I wanted to see agreement on a solution to the banking crisis in Europe that broke the link between banking and sovereign debt.