Mr. Jim Higgins:

Gabhaim buíochas don Chathaoirleach agus do na Seanadóirí. Is deas bheith ar ais agus nuair a chuimhním ar an Teach seo, Seanad Éireann, cuimhním mar alma mater é. Is maith is cuimhin liom go maith19 Iúil 1981 nuair a fuair mé glaoch ar an teilefón ón Iar-Thaoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, go raibh sé do m'ainmniú go dtí an Teach seo. Bhí áthas an domhain orm. Is deas bheith ar ais arís, mar fheisire ón Aontas Eorpach.

I am absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to address Senators today and to discuss matters of European interest. As I said when I spoke as Gaeilge, it is very like a return home for me because I regard Seanad Éireann as my alma mater in political terms. I remember 19 August 1981, when I received a telephone call from the then Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, offering me one of his precious 11 Seanad nominations. I was at a funeral in Christ the King Church in Galway, before the days of mobile telephones, and I could not be contacted. Time was running out but eventually someone managed to fish me from a restaurant in Salthill and tell me that the Taoiseach was looking for me. I barely made it and I had to wait until the six o'clock news to see whether I would be nominated. While he asked me if I would accept the nomination, he was not clear or unequivocal. I finally made it and I enjoyed every minute of the 11 years I spent in this House. I was nominated originally, then I was re-elected and in 2002 I was re-elected until 2007. This was my gateway to politics.

From the point of view of the gratification I got, I got as much gratification in this House and sometimes more than in the Lower House, where I spent 15 years. The level of debate in this Chamber, where there is not the same degree of rancour, is not recognised. This House has always been under-reported and that leaves much to be desired. I was very sorry to hear of the retirement of Mr. Jimmy Walsh, who invariably covered this House week in, week out, in his column at the bottom of the Dáil report. We owe a debt of gratitude to him and to "Oireachtas Report". I am very critical of the national media for their lack of coverage of the proceedings in this House.

The House has contributed much to national life and parliamentary life. The current President, Michael D. Higgins, started his national political career in this House. A previous President with whom I had the pleasure of serving, Mary Robinson, started her career in this House. The former Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, started his political career in this House. I appreciate the anxiety Senators are going through at present.

On 27 and 28 April, I was invited to Poland to celebrate the Irish Presidency of the Council by Krzysztof Malarecki. He invites a member of the European Parliament from each member state to celebrate its Presidency. A representative of the Cyprus Presidency, which ended in December, was invited and the Lithuanian Presidency will receive similar invitations. The celebration was one of Irish traditional music, song, dance and ballads. Polish dancers did traditional Irish dancing with exquisite perfection. A professor of philosophy recited Polish translations of Raftery, Callanan, Kavanagh and there was Irish drink and Irish cuisine. It was truly spectacular.

Why should the Poles celebrate the rotating Presidency every six months? To understand that, one must reflect on the history of Poland. The country was invaded by Sweden in 1700, partitioned three times in the 18th century, invaded by the Russians in 1887, invaded by the Nazis in 1939, liberated by the Russians in 1945 and forced to kowtow to Moscow for the next 59 years. In 2004, it became a full and proud member of the European Union. The country was celebrating real liberation for the first time. Poland's history is very much a reflection of those European countries locked behind the Iron Curtain and under the cold and icy grip of Moscow for so many years. I have witnessed 16 rotating Presidencies and the Polish Presidency in 2012, the first, was a huge success. It was a celebration of freedom, democracy and of being an integral component of the most successful political experiment in the history of politics, which is what the European Union is. It is a mosaic of member states, coming from diverse backgrounds with the well-established common set of goals whose borders continue to push further into the eastern horizons of the mainland of Europe, with Croatia becoming a member on 1 July.

Some 40 years ago, the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Paddy Hillery, signed the accession agreement for Ireland's entry into the European Union, bringing the membership of the union to nine states. Its significance cannot be overstated.

I referred to the success of the first Polish Presidency. Ireland is now into the final few weeks of our seventh Presidency. The Irish Presidencies have all been successful, well managed and thematic and the current Presidency is no exception. The mission statement of stability, growth and jobs could not be more appropriate given the current economic crisis and there is a growing optimism that Ireland's performance will be emulated in due course by the other programme countries.

We should reflect on the doom-laden headlines and prophecies in the media in January 2012. The predicted disasters did not occur. There has been no euro meltdown, the deeper dive into recession has not occurred. What has helped, in terms of navigating Europe back to economic recovery, has been, in spite of occasional public street protests, the relative political stability as evidenced by the election process. The results are testament to the current climate of political stability. It is testament to our current Government that, despite the heavy budgetary cuts we have been forced to implement, cuts have been implemented as fairly as possible and have not resulted in chaos and anarchy on the streets. I take hope from the fact that nowhere in Europe did political extremists advance electorally. In Spain, they were kept out of power. In France, extremists remained on the margins. In the Netherlands, voters threw them out of the multi-party coalition in the autumn.

Unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, is a major problem. As an tUachtaráin, Michael D. Higgins, said "There is nothing more corrosive to society and more crushing to an individual than endemic unemployment, particularly among the young." The still broken banking system has to be addressed and in this regard we need a fully-fledged monetary union, as in the United States. The overhanging cloud of Britain's possible withdrawal from the EU is, for Europe and particularly for Ireland, a major cause for concern. In recent local elections, the success of the United Kingdom Independence Party is cause for concern.

I have had the honour of witnessing 16 of the rotating Presidencies since 2004, all of which have been successful. I have heard Prime Ministers and Heads of State deliver their inaugural Presidency addresses to plenary sittings in Strasbourg. One of the finest, if not the finest, was that of the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, last February. His speech had vision, style and substance. It was punctuated by regular and virtually universal applause and when he concluded there was a prolonged standing ovation. Having delivered his address, he engaged in a long and impressive question-and-answer session with MEPs from all sides of the House. Likewise, the riveting, eloquent, scholarly address by our President, Michael D. Higgins at our April plenary session made one so proud to be Irish.

As politicians, Senators will know that elected representatives do not give or get that kind of praise or adulation unless it is earned. After the address by the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, a member of the UK Independence Party, which, as I said, does not give plaudits very willingly, came up to me and said he must have kissed the Blarney stone. I said: “The Irish do not need to kiss the Blarney stone; that is for the Brits and the Yanks.” The same was said in regard to the scholarly address of the President, Mr. Michael D. Higgins.