Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Commissioner to the House, along with his officials from Brussels. I believe certain officials got a warm welcome from certain Senators last night. It is very difficult to cover all the matters raised by the Commissioner in his lengthy address in three minutes. Much to the disappointment of the 63 members of the Irish Farmers Association in the Glencullen-Sandyford ward I will not focus too much on his specific brief. The Commissioner mentioned the new alliances for Ireland within the European Union, and within the agrifood sector and CAP reform, it is vital we remember our long-standing and, I hope, future prosperous relationship with the French. They have always stood well by Ireland and they will continue to do so. I welcome the Commissioner's comments on trade deals and he has done much work already in countries like Malaysia and Vietnam, coming to the fore in new trade deals that have the potential to be extremely beneficial to Ireland in agrifood and dairy sectors.

I will focus my remaining time on Brexit and the future of Europe. Brexit has forced us to think about the future of Europe but it is something we probably should have done a number of years ago. As the Commissioner noted, the worldwide economic crash probably got in the way in that respect. There is a great lesson coming from Brexit, and I say it both to members of my own party and Members whose long-time Eurosceptic parties have found a new enthusiasm for the European project. As the British people have found, one cannot spend 43 years kicking a project or idea and blaming the foreign bodies in Brussels and Strasbourg for every domestic woe and then spend six weeks trying to convince an electorate to stay in it. We must be conscientious in our rightful criticism of the European project and we must also give credit where it is due. That forces us to be much more realistic in what we can do within the European Union.

The Commissioner mentioned that Ireland is a small country of 4.6 million people on the periphery. When we applied to join the European Economic Community, EEC, in the 1960s we would not have been considered unless the UK applied too. The UK has now made the regrettable decision to leave but we have made the correct decision to remain. In doing so we must throw ourselves into the European project and show a level of enthusiasm for Europe where we might sometimes have been found wanting. On the European side, the European Commission in particular needs to learn how to sell Europe. For too long, the European Commission and the European Union have gone out of their way to tell the people of Europe how they can give out about the Union. They spent 25 years paying Mr. Nigel Farage so he could complain about the European Union. They have not said how this is a really good thing, with 60 years of peace on the continent, and as Senator Ó Domhnaill notes, it is worth defending. This country has seen economic success because of membership of the European communities, and it is worth defending. We must continue doing it and I hope the European Commission hires some good old-fashioned marketers and sales reps, taking this on the road.