Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the House for making time available for statements on the future of Europe. Yesterday we celebrated Europe Day. On 9 May 1950 Robert Schuman, the then French Foreign Minister, issued a declaration in which it was proposed to place French and German production of coal and steel under one common high authority. The post-war policy had been to boost French production of coal and steel at the expense of Germany which had lost control of the mines in Saarland and the Ruhr valley. Putting control of the materials of war in new, safe hands was a radical move. Robert Schuman knew that it would make it much more difficult for either side to return to war. The then German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, recognised immediately that it was a magnanimous offer, as did the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy. The following year the European Coal and Steel Community was created when the Treaty of Paris was signed. While the immediate, ostensible focus of the declaration was on coal and steel production, the real underlying intention was to create common interests that would hasten European integration. Robert Schuman was a French politician who was born in Luxembourg in 1886. His father had fled there from France when part of his native Lorraine was occupied by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War.

We do not have time today to go through every twist and turn of Robert Schuman’s colourful life, but he had every reason to put all of his energy into stopping another war. As an MP between the First and Second World Wars, he worked on the harmonisation of laws in Alsace and Lorraine with French law after that region had become French again. During the Second World War he was arrested for acts of resistance but was spared from being sent to Dachau. He was an advocate of Franco-German reconciliation long before it became fashionable. We can guess that his European spirit had been formed much earlier in his life. He was educated in Luxembourg, Metz, Berlin, Munich, Bonn and Strasbourg. We could say he was the original Erasmus student. Part of his genius was that he understood he could not secure his European vision overnight. In what must be the most oft-quoted lines in the declaration he said:

Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.

Ireland was not a signatory to the Treaty of Paris, nor was it one of the original six that signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957, but we are still part of Robert Schuman’s legacy. He was clear that his declaration "may be the leaven from which may grow a wider and deeper community." The wider and deeper community that has emerged is the European Union, of which Ireland is an active member. Membership has given us barrier-free access to the world’s biggest markets. Support for the agriculture sector has kept rural communities alive and given European consumers the assurance of safe, high quality food at affordable prices.Membership has paved the way for social progress. It has amplified the voice of small countries such as Ireland on the global stage. In short, membership has transformed our country. Membership gives us a say on the issues small countries such as ours cannot tackle alone, for example, Europe is the world's biggest importer of fuel. Collectively, we spend €350 billion every year on fuel imports. The challenge now is to invest heavily in the new technologies that will make us more self sufficient in fuel terms, allow us to cut our energy costs, reduce our carbon footprint and make us more adept at tackling climate change.

Although we have made great strides in gender equality, our EU economies would gain €13 billion per annum if we could eliminate the gender gap completely. Equally, we could add €415 billion to the EU's gross domestic product, GDP, if we could complete the digital single market, and we have no choice but to do so, if we want to take advantage of the second digital revolution. Completing the digital single market and the single market in services would reap huge dividends for Ireland too since more than half our exports are in services and more than half of our labour force works in the services sector. We have a clear and vested interest in bringing to bear our influence on the future of Europe debate.

While we celebrate Schuman's 1950 vision for Europe every year on 9 May it is arguably more significant this year as we face into an uncertain future with only 27 members following the decision of the UK to leave the European Union. Of course these conversations need to be held on the future direction of the EU and how we want it to work for us but they happen in the context of the difficult issues we have faced over recent years, the financial crisis, the migration crisis, the recent terror attacks on EU soil that have tested member states, the growth of Euroscepticism in some member states and furthermore, in the aftermath of Brexit. The upcoming budget cycle as well as political developments in other parts of the EU have underlined the need for these discussions to take place.

Yesterday, we marked Europe Day by hosting a national citizens' dialogue on the future of Europe. It was the culmination of a process launched in November that took us around the country listening to the needs and concerns of our own citizens across the regions and within voluntary and community organisations. At each session we asked participants for their views on our prosperity and competitiveness, our future sustainability, what a socially responsible union should look like, how to tackle globalisation and how to work with our European partners to deliver a safe and secure Union. Our work was complemented by the work of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs which has held its own hearings on the future of Europe. I was glad that the Chairman of the committee, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, and many other committee members, including Senator Richmond, participated. The debate was a stimulating one and now that we are beginning to pull together the feedback from each session, I have no doubt that Ireland's contribution to the broader European debate will be all the better because of it.

Senators will have seen the results of the EMI-Red C poll published earlier this week showing that support here for membership of the EU is higher than ever at 92%. Among 18 to 24 year olds support for membership is at 97% which is an unbelievable high figure. What struck me most about the poll was the staggering response to the question about public engagement: 92% of respondents said it was important that Irish people have an input into the future of Europe debate. This chimes with, and reflects, the response I got at our regional sessions of our citizens' dialogues. Everywhere I went the feedback was the same. Everyone appreciated that we had come to listen to what they had to say and they felt this process should not just happen once in a blue moon or after a crisis but should be continuous.

The European Union's Committee of the Regions has just published its report on the future of Europe, following a yearlong listening exercise across 81 regions and 114 cities. It found that people are enthusiastic about the EU, but feel disconnected. It wants high levels of transparency and, as we heard ourselves, it wants Europe to be more active in education, the environment, security and tourism. Those areas were mentioned in citizens' dialogues, particularly education and investment in research and innovation if we are to prepare for the changing world ahead of us. The Committee of the Regions says the most significant issue mentioned was a demand for more solidarity. This was echoed at our sessions where the message was one of fairness in the workplace, between communities and inter-generational fairness. People want to be sure that the younger generations are given the opportunities to progress in developing their careers, families and other areas but also that older people are given the opportunity to retire with peace and dignity.

Another message in the report of the Committee of the Regions that we need to attend to was that people trust their local and regional politicians most, in some instances more than they trust national or EU politicians. This puts a tremendous responsibility on us to engage with our citizens on European issues. People will respond when policies, even complex policies, are explained to them or there is engagement on them. If we have learned one thing from the Brexit debacle, it is that we must connect better with our own citizens and bring them and the European Union closer to one another.

As Robert Schuman said, we build this solidarity through concrete achievements. This work is never complete but far from futile. On the contrary, it makes debates like the one we are having here today indispensable and I thank the Cathaoirleach for making time available today for these statements. I look forward to hearing the Members' contributions.