Ms Frances Fitzgerald:

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach, Senators and MEP colleagues. I thank the Seanad for the invitation. It is a pleasure to be back in the House representing the citizens of Dublin city and county and to have an opportunity to give Senators a sense of the work we do in the European Parliament.The range of activities every day in the Parliament is quite extraordinary. Members get a feel of it from some of my colleagues. It is quite difficult to keep up with the amount of material and the number of votes and resolutions, opinions and reports that arise every day. I find the quality of the work there extraordinarily high. I find it very co-operative. Obviously, there is much consensus building in the Parliament and the amount of work that can be done and agreed upon is amazing despite the very different backgrounds, experiences and cultures people bring to the European Parliament.

Speaking earlier in the year at the annual State of the Union speech, Ursula von der Leyen said many are the people who feel their lives have been on pause while the world has been on fast forward. That summarises the feeling of isolation people have sometimes had from Covid-19 but also the feeling that the world is changing very fast. In regard to the European Parliament and European work, I often say that the kind of lens through which everything is seen now is Covid-19, green and digital. I also add in that it is equality and care and inclusiveness and diversity. Those are the sorts of criteria around which much of the work is done in the Parliament.

I will say a few words about the Covid-19 recovery. This has preoccupied the Parliament as indeed has the development of the vaccines, on which there was a slow start but fantastic co-operation after that, particularly between public and private. It has been great to see that. There has been huge, unprecedented and timely economic support from the European Parliament to all member states. This was very impressive. As we know, this has enabled individuals and businesses to continue and survive as much as possible. The point I would make about that €750 billion recovery fund, even though Ireland is getting just about €1 billion in grants under the recovery and resilience facility, RRF, and a further €7 billion for 2022 and 2023, is that it is about solidarity. It is really about making sure the countries that need this money to transition in the areas I have talked about have it. It is very strictly controlled. The criteria around it, green, digital and so on, are very important. We have been working quite hard in the Parliament to ensure that it is well spent and there will be a careful watch on it in the months and years ahead. One of the things I have been watching in particular is to ensure that the RRF is gender-proofed. I did a report for the Parliament on the differential impact of Covid-19 on women and men and it is very important that we spend the money appropriately to ensure the recovery meets everybody.

A second area I have been working on is the question of the care economy. This is very important. We had a very particular lens on care during Covid-19. We clapped the carers and so on but I have been trying to get the EU to have a care strategy. I am delighted to say that Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union speech announced that the Commission would be working on a care strategy next year. I can go into some details on what that will encompass. Care is a national competence but we can do much work at European level to co-operate, to share data and to look at best practice. Best practice networks have targets such as the Barcelona targets for childcare. That is very important and it is great that the Commission is now taking a more serious role in regard to care.

A number of my colleagues spoke about the European Green Deal and that is huge in the Parliament. There is commitment from all the political parties. There is much discussion about the implementation, as there is in Ireland. How will it be implemented? What committees will have responsibilities for what part of the European Green Deal? What committees will have competence around it? The Commission published its Fit for 55 package, but much remains to be worked out in the detail still. There is much concern, particularly among colleagues from countries in eastern Europe which are dependent on fossil fuels and coal and have big industries such as car manufacturing and so on. It is very important that we have what I would call a just transition for individuals and communities. I have been rapporteur on two reports - two just transition legislative files for my group. This is involves a huge amount of funding - €100 billion - for Europe to make sure there is a just transition for all countries and for communities. When we say communities, it is not just for the coal miners but it is for their families and their communities. There is much to be done in that regard.

Finally, I have two small points. One relates to Europe's place in the world and geopolitics at the moment with the USA and China. There is much tension with China. There are hopes of rebuilding the relationship with the USA because that had really broken down in the past few years. We are having many discussions and debates on what Europe's position will be and on how Europe will defend itself. Ms Daly touched on some of her attitudes and beliefs around that. That is quite an interesting discussion in terms of defence and security and, of course, Brexit. I will finish by saying that the support for Ireland and the understanding in the European Parliament in regard to the protocol and Brexit is quite extraordinary. There is huge interest and support and a real wish to see the TCA fully implemented.