Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fíorchaoin fáilte roimh Gay Mitchell anseo inniu. Níl aon amhras faoi ná go raibh sé thar a bheith éifeachtach agus misniúil i gcónaí mar ionadaí na hÉireann san Eoraip. Thug mé faoi deara gur sheas sé an fód go minic ar ár son. Is mór an phribhléid dúinn í go bhfuil sé in éineacht linn anseo inniu.

I would sincerely like to welcome Mr. Gay Mitchell, MEP. He has been an exceptionally effective and courageous representative of Ireland in Europe. He has been consistent in his views down through the years and he took a stand whenever it was necessary. He has shown great personal courage, as did his brother before him. For that reason, we owe him a debt of gratitude. We thank him very much for being with us today to share his views on the European project and, at the same time, give us an opportunity to make our own comments in the hope that he might be able to keep our views in mind when he returns to Europe.

It is interesting that Mr. Mitchell made reference to 1916. If one looks at the Proclamation of 1916, one can see that we make reference to our allies in Europe and throughout the world, which in many ways was visionary because, at that time, the patriots of Ireland realised that it was only through working together in a common cause that we could be respectful of everyone's right to independence and freedom.

One of the greatest and most important elements of the European project is the fact it worked towards creating and sustaining an environment in which war will never again be seen as a solution to any problem. The fact that millions have lost their lives in war is one of the greatest obscenities I can think of. When it is all done and finished and the millions are buried while further millions suffer from their injuries, we then have all of the hate that goes with that and the decades that are required to get some normality back to human conditions. When the European Union was first set up, its founders were conscious of what war had done to Europe. It is interesting that those who were hostile towards each other, who had a terrible history of hostility and animosity, were prepared to work together for the common good because they realised there was no other solution. They realised that all we would have was a continuity of armed conflicts, such as we see happening in other parts of the world.

While the United Nations has its own specific role to fulfil, there are times when we in Europe could also state clearly that we are totally opposed to the sale of arms to any other country. It may not be our role but we are capable of having an influence on the actions of other people. It is very sad, when I see the changing of the guard in one country or another - whether it is in Iraq, Libya or Syria - to realise that although we may have sold arms to that country, we are then going in to remove that same regime from power. There is something very sad about that because it tells us the bottom line is the bottom line of the balance sheet. That has to be removed from any consideration we have into the future.

It is evident currently, given the austerity measures we all have to suffer, that people will make arguments against the European project. In Ireland, there will be those who are supportive as well as the detractors, but I believe we must be careful not to have a knee-jerk reaction at any specific time. We must look at the totality of what we have at our disposal and the good the EU has done, first, in keeping war out of the equation, and second, in ensuring there is free trade and free movement of people. There are so many pluses to be considered.

I was very sad and disappointed, particularly as we were embracing and celebrating Ireland's seventh Presidency of the EU, that the UK Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, chose that very time to reactivate the issue of whether Britain should stay in or remove itself from the EU. If we are to look at that in clear-----