Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to join the words of welcome to Mr. Gay Mitchell, MEP, who has made an outstanding contribution to politics at local level as Lord Mayor of Dublin, as a TD, as a Minister and as an MEP. We are honoured to have him in our presence today and I thank him for a most thought-provoking speech.

As we mark 40 years of EU membership, it is worth looking at the benefits the EU has brought to all of us here in Ireland. I believe it is necessary to look beyond the benefits we all see in our localities. The EU is a global player and Ireland, as part of the EU, plays a crucial role in all aspects of EU policies, whether they are aimed at our own local economy and environment or the global stage.

Ireland has received in excess of ¤68 billion in financial supports over the past 40 years. This funding ranged from a meagre £47 million in 1973 to when it peaked at ¤3.2 billion in 1997 to financial supports worth just over ¤2 billion in 2011. The majority of this has gone to support our farmers through the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. It is significant that our MEPs are fighting to ensure the interests of Irish farming are protected when the current reform of the CAP is considered and voted upon by the European Parliament.

We have seen that Ireland is now the home of eight of the ten largest global technology companies in the world and 15 of the top medical device firms. We ask ourselves why we have benefited more from US investment than China, Brazil, India or Russia combined. The reason is because we are part of the European Internal Market that guarantees multinational firms access to the European marketplace. Yesterday, Bill Gates visited Ireland and Microsoft is a perfect example of the benefits that flow to Ireland as part of our EU membership. Ireland's membership of the EU has been good for business and jobs. It is not just the multinationals which have benefited. Irish firms have built on the opportunities presented by the EU and the role of the Internal Market and have forged significant markets for Irish goods and services in the EU. No better example can be seen than our indigenous food and drink companies. It is striking to consider that Ireland is the largest producer of beef in the EU and the fourth largest producer in the world. I will cut my speech short because of time constraints.

Another example is the infrastructural improvements supported by the EU. We have completed motorways throughout Ireland from Dublin to Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Belfast with the assistance of the EU. We had no motorways in this country in 1973. Obviously, investment in infrastructure such as water treatment, landfill site management systems and recycling schemes, all of which are supported by the EU, are helping to improve our infrastructure. Climate change is one of the environmental problems of great concern to us here and is not something that can be tackled by individual countries. The EU leads the world in seeking to combat this significant problem.

The EU social fund has benefited Ireland and created training and educational possibilities for many young people that would not have arisen had we not been members of the EU. A special mention must be made of the Erasmus programme that has enabled thousands of Irish students to study abroad as part of their university studies. Over the past ten years, 20,000 students in Irish universities have studied abroad and twice that number have chosen Ireland as the location for their year of Erasmus studies. That means that 40,000 students have come to Ireland over that period.

The EU's role in helping the developing world is of particular importance. As the largest provider of development aid in the world, the EU is crucial in helping developing countries emerge from poverty. Mr. Mitchell referred to that in his speech. These are just a few examples of how Ireland has benefited from EU membership over the past 40 years.

I have a few questions for Mr. Mitchell. Where does he see Europe's place in the world 20 years from now and how does he see the EU project developing? Could he give us an update on the status of countries seeking EU membership? Something that is very much in the news is rising Euroscepticism in Great Britain. How is the EU dealing with this? I again welcome Mr. Mitchell to the House and look forward to further discussion during the afternoon.