John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Commissioner. The EU is a precious regional entity in a world that has a lot of vulnerability and threats. We should remember this. It is, however, a hard place to love. This point has been made by various people very sweetly.

With regard to Brexit there are a small number of EU member states that make up the majority of the population - the big beasts. There are many states within the EU that are medium and smaller sized. The EU needs to be very clear that it will stand by Ireland, which is a small state. The EU's own reputation will stand or fall on this matter.

Mr. Hogan spoke of how Brexit might have torn the EU apart and how President Juncker's response was to ask what kind of EU we want. That was in 2016. In 2010 the EU ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I put it to Mr. Hogan that this is a commitment between the EU and each of its member states to do the right thing by its 80 million people who have disabilities, and their families. This is 16% of the EU population.

The Commissioner has said that Ireland is at the forefront in trade deals with fair and rules-based trade. The late Peter Sutherland has left a legacy - all too soon - in that regard, as he did later in his career with asylum seekers. Mr. Hogan's portfolio is agriculture but it is also about jobs growth, rural development and smart villages. There is a lot at stake for people and families with disabilities, and for others. The two sides of the coin need to be kept balanced and worked together.

I travel to various countries in my work as an advocate for those with disabilities. We do not find fellowship because we are from different EU member states, it is because we have the common experience of living with a disability. There are lots of groups within EU member states that are bound by their common experience of difficulty in their lives, whether it is people with disabilities or others. This is an important aspect to remember. It is a potential for greater cohesion.

Reference was made to external threats but threats can also come from within when there is no social cohesion, and when people who are within the European Union do not feel it is their home or that it is standing by them. I have engaged with two of the Commissioner's former colleagues in various committees for education and budgetary oversight. I have not felt assured by their understanding of the disability side of their brief. To use an agricultural analogy, I would like Mr. Hogan as one of their colleagues to give them a touch of the prod now and again when it comes to remembering that people with disabilities are in every community and it has to do with education, with budgets and with the whole gamut of living. I ask that Mr. Hogan would also renew within his own brief the focus on people with disabilities and their futures.

In his statement Mr. Hogan spoke of fake news being political mischief. I do not agree with the Commissioner on this. I believe it is an absolute attack on democracy and on rational discourse. It is a really big issue.