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

I thank all Senators for their contributions and work on the European stage. I congratulate Senator Joe O'Reilly on his appointment as vice president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. I wish him and all Senators well in their work.

I will first touch on Brexit because it has been raised by so many. I did not address it in my opening contribution.

Senator Ivana Bacik should note that I am aware of the Twitter account, which is sometimes amusing and, unfortunately, the only amusing thing about Brexit. We all agree from an Irish perspective. The Government's position has always been and will continue to be that, after Brexit, we want to have the closest possible relationship with the United Kingdom. We want it to have the closest possible relationship with the European Union as a whole. We are very clear also that the Irish concerns must be addressed. I refer to the specific Irish concerns about the Good Friday Agreement, the peace process and the avoidance of a border on the island of Ireland. Negotiations and discussions are very much focused on translating the concerns associated with what was agreed to before Christmas. The UK Government has since confirmed that they are to be translated into a legally binding document to ensure that, where there is a close relationship with the United Kingdom, there would be a protocol in place that would avoid a border and ensure the peace process would be protected. That is our goal and priority. I acknowledge and thank our European counterparts for the supports and solidarity they have shown in that regard.

While Brexit will play a significant part in considering the future of Europe, the future of Europe is not Brexit. It is, unfortunately, one without the United Kingdom. When the EU leaders met at a summit in Bratislava, they met, one could say, in crisis mode to establish what had had happened and what had gone wrong. The most important result of that meeting was that they emerged in solidarity and reaffirmed their commitment to the European Union and planning a shared future together. While it was acknowledged that the European Union was not perfect and never would be, it is certainly the best mechanism by which to address some of the significant challenges we are facing and will face. Many Senators have raised this issue. Included are the issues of climate change and making sure we leave the environment and our world in a fit state for the next generation. Also included are tackling terrorism and the serious security threats we are facing on our borders and even further afield. Both aspects are playing a major part in contributing to the serious challenge posed by migration, the mass movement of people.

In his speech yesterday the Tánaiste mentioned Africa and how European leaders met once every four years. That is not enough. It is not enough to tackle the issues with which we need to deal and prevent the inevitable displacement of millions of people in the future. These are really serious concerns that we need to address. I am confident that doing so is a priority. The reform of the refugee and asylum system is certainly a priority for Mr. Donald Tusk in his agenda, but there is a lot of work we need to do in that regard. Many Senators referred to the fact that the whole purpose of the European Union and the reason for its establishment is that, first and foremost, it is a peace project. I had the opportunity earlier this year, on a visit to Sarajevo during a trip to the western Balkans, to stand on the Latin Bridge where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, an event that lead to the outbreak of the First World War. That was not the last war we had in Europe but we should remind ourselves of it. We in Ireland have to continue to remind ourselves how important Europe's role in the establishment of peace on this island has been and we must ensure that peace is protected at all costs. We have come a long way since Robert Schuman's vision was first set out. We have a long way to go, and we have to continue to reaffirm the European Union's relevance to the daily lives of its citizens. In order to do that, we have to get back to some of the social issues I have heard raised in recent weeks in the context of our citizens' dialogue. We have to return to the core values of the European Union, namely, democracy, human rights, the rule of law, freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Unfortunately, some of those have been lost along the way.

We must focus on education and ensure that we develop further the equality we have managed to achieve. That said, a recent study showed that pay equality still does not exist between men and women in Ireland. This is one of the issues we must continue to highlight and address. It is important to highlight that this is becoming a more prominent item on the agenda. The fact that we had a social summit in Gothenburg last year which specifically focused on education, workers' rights and various other matters shows that we are now starting to get back to the issues with which people want us to deal. We still have much more work to do in that regard.

Other issues raised by Senators include our neutrality and the fact that we have signed up to PESCO. Ireland was one of the last countries to join PESCO because the Government wanted to ensure that our neutrality would not be impacted upon in any way. We also wanted to ensure that the reason for joining and our ability to work in co-operation with other member states would support our core values. We are a country with a proud tradition of peacekeeping, and we believe we must continue that tradition. The projects we will be involved in include those focusing on cybersecurity and crimes and threats in that regard and also those that focus on peacekeeping and the missions we have always undertaken and that we will continue to undertake. The debates I have had with citizens throughout the country overwhelmingly suggest that Irish people want us to co-operate more with our European counterparts in order to ensure that we can support peace and security throughout Europe and further afield. While there are different views as to how that can be achieved, joining PESCO has not impacted upon our neutrality. We are very clear that the projects in which we will be involved will not impact upon it in any way.

The issue of legislation and red tape has been raised in recent months. It must be made easier for people to access funds throughout Europe in order to ensure fairness for large and small businesses. Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker is taking charge of a refit programme at the moment. This involves looking at European legislation in the context of what is working or is not working, what can be changed and where can it be improved. To reassure Senators, the European Commission is obliged to notify the Seanad and the Dáil of any legislation that is being brought forward at the same time at the European Parliament. While there is a great deal going on, at the same time we have an opportunity to raise concerns before anything is done and before it is too late.

The issue of the multi-annual financial framework was raised. In terms of the future of Europe, this will be one of the biggest discussions I have during council meetings in the coming months. From an Irish point of view, we acknowledge that there will be a gaping hole in the budget due to the UK leaving. That will have some financial implications and will dictate whether we continue with certain projects, depending on the future relationship with the UK. Nonetheless, there will still be a gaping hole. We see merit in increasing our budget if it means that we can continue to avail of the supports we have been getting, but also where we see European added value. We very much believe in the traditional streams of funding, particularly CAP and the significant role it has played for farming in our rural communities. We will work against any changes to CAP and try to achieve the best possible outcome in the context of the budget relating to it. We also acknowledge the importance of other areas, such as cohesion funding. As a small island nation, we acknowledge the significance that this funding has had for our own development, for our infrastructure, our roads and our networks. We believe it is important that other member states, including those which recently joined, should be able to avail of that same support as they embark on the same journey we took perhaps 20 years ago.

In areas such as research and innovation, we see European added value whereby there is a knock-on effect and a benefit for us. We feel this is of huge benefit in the overall discussions. We also have to acknowledge that there are newer priorities which perhaps do not come to the fore of our discussions, such as migration and security and defence. Those issues do not impact on us in the same way as other member states which are closer to the European border. We need to support those countries which are impacted most and acknowledge that this issue is a key priority for them. We have to strike a balance, acknowledging that we have priorities and other member states have priorities. I want to reassure Senator O'Reilly that CAP funding is an absolute priority for us, and that we want to ensure that there will be as small an impact as possible in respect of the budget.