David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Sinn Féin supports the Bill and has consistently supported Croatia's accession to the European Union and EU enlargement generally. As the Minister will be aware, however, my party has difficulties with the political, social and economic direction Europe has taken in the past 20 years and the democratic deficit in the Union. Notwithstanding these reservations, we fully respect the decision of the people of Croatia to join the European Union and we do not have any objection to ratifying Croatian membership of the EU. Having met the criteria laid down in law, we welcome the country's membership of the European Union.

As Sinn Féin has argued previously, Croatian workers should not be discriminated against in the European Union. They should be allowed to travel where they wish, as other EU citizens do. The purpose of the legislation is to allow Croatian nationals to access the Irish labour market, while not conferring any greater rights than those included in Croatia's treaty of accession signed on 9 December 2011. Croatia will become the European Union's 28th member state. Ireland signed the instrument of ratification for the Croatian accession treaty on 21 September 2012. The ratification process by the parliaments of all 27 member states is expected to conclude by the end of June 2013. For this reason, the legislation must be enacted by 1 July 2013 to ensure the full accession of Croatia to the European Union. Sinn Féin will not seek to delay the Bill.

The main provisions of the Bill are to give Croatian nationals employment rights equivalent to other EU nationals for the first two years after accession, ensure family members of Croatian nationals have the same entitlements as family members of other EU nationals and provide that Croatian nationals who have equivalent EU employment rights do not need an employment permit. These measures make sense and are supported by Sinn Féin. I welcome the legislation on the basis that Croatian nationals should be afforded the same opportunities as other EU citizens to access employment in Ireland.

I propose to make some general comments on the accession of Croatia. As I indicated, Croatian citizens voted for accession and given that the country met the standards set for it, there can be no argument about its entitlement to join the European Union. However, the Union is far from a bed of roses as it has been experiencing an economic crisis for many years and unemployment in the EU currently stands at record levels. A neoliberal agenda lies at the heart of the European project. Many people have genuine concerns about the political aspect of the project as the European Union is moving from a Union in which independent states protected their sovereignty and respectively sought to find ways to co-operate to one in which the larger members states, specifically France and Germany, are coming to dominate. A wider debate is needed about the direction the European Union is taking.

Sinn Féin's approach to Europe has always been one of critical engagement. While we are enthusiastic supporters of the concept of Europe and the European project and Community, we have difficulties with the willingness of the State to cede sovereignty in many areas in recent decades. We need to have a conversation about a social Europe. Many social democratic and socialist parties believe in a social Europe and want the EU to play a clear role and do much work on women's rights, poverty, human and environmental rights. While many good European directives have been implemented in all of these areas, we appear to be moving from a social Europe towards a different type of Europe. This is a cause of concern for many citizens, as the Irish people have shown in rejecting several treaties, even if we passed them when pressure was exerted a second time. The rejection of treaties by Irish people was a clear manifestation of the general concern among the public about the direction in which Europe is moving. This concern needs to be factored into discussions as we seek to expand the European Union in the process of enlargement which Sinn Féin supports.

Senators referred to the loss of an MEP for Ireland. Despite political differences, the 15 MEPs from this island have worked together and, to borrow a phrase, pulled on the green jersey and worked on behalf of the country, North and South. This has been highly beneficial and the loss of one MEP would be regrettable. It is unfortunate that the Government did not proactively engage on this issue and failed to mount any significant opposition to the loss of an MEP. It is only fair that candidates for the next European Parliament elections know what are the new constituency boundaries. Some of those who contested the most recent local elections were unsure of the boundaries of the new local authority constituencies, although this issue has since been addressed by the Boundary Commission. It is important that candidates for the European Parliament are made aware of the exact boundaries of their constituency and given an opportunity to properly canvass and plan for the forthcoming European Parliament elections. I ask that this matter be addressed.

Sinn Féin supports the Bill and does not propose to delay its enactment. I welcome Croatia to the European Union. I also hope we will continue to have a constructive debate on the future of the European project and the direction in which the European Union is moving.