Mr. Billy Kelleher:

Is mór an onóir dom a bheith anseo mar Fheisire de Pharlaimint na hEorpa. Mar is eol do Sheanadóirí, bhíodh mé i mo Chomhalta den Teach seo idir 1993 agus 1997. Chaith mé go leor ama ag déileáil le píosaí éagsúla de reachtaíocht an tSeanaid mar Aire Stáit. I rith na mblianta, chreid mé i gcónaí go raibh ardchaighdeán díospóireachta sa Seanad. Tá ról tábhachtach agus rí-thairbheach ag an Seanad go háirithe maidir leis an Aontas Eorpach. Mar sin, is deis iontach í dúinne mar Fheisirí Eorpacha labhairt leis na Seanadóirí ar na ceisteanna is tábhachtaí faoi láthair.

A Leas-Chathaoirligh, Senators, friends, it is truly a great honour to be back in the Seanad after a long absence. I was a Senator in the early 1990s and I spent a good deal of time in the Seanad as a Member but, sometimes, as a Minister of State being asked questions and trying to answer them and also on legislation. I have always believed there is a high standard of debate in the Seanad. It is less partisan and it gives opportunities and more freedom to Members to express their views in a way that is not necessarily always possible in the Dáil. I very much welcome the role that is now being proposed by the Seanad with regard to scrutiny of the issue of the European Union and making sure we have that connectivity between the national Parliament and the European Parliament.

Membership of the European Union, a union of 450 million citizens from 27 different member states, has transformed our country. When we signed the Treaty of Accession 50 years ago, Ireland was a dramatically different country, economically poor and socially conservative. Despite various challenges over that time, Ireland has emerged as a global economic success story and an island of social progress. The European Union also has been a success. As I have said previously, membership gave us the ability to achieve economic independence and to add to the political independence achieved by the Twenty-six Counties in 1922. However, our Union is not perfect. The European Union does make mistakes. It does not get all things right all of the time. Moreover, it is also absolutely essential that those mistakes and imperfections are called out publicly, but primarily by those who support the Union. Very often, we allow those who are opposed to the European Union to be the ones who hold it to account. It is important that pro-European people, parties and members hold the European Union to account.

My colleague in the European Parliament, the former Prime Minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, said during a debate last year on how the Commission was handling the Covid-19 vaccine procurement process that pro-Europeans should be the first to be critical when things go wrong. Those in Ireland who are pro-European must not allow the debates about the future of the Union to take place without their input. If we are honest, Irish Governments of different colours have been slower than others in pushing their priorities on a variety of issues. Prior to Brexit, we were lucky to have the UK leading the fight on many of the issues that are also important to Ireland. We no longer have that luxury. We have to do these things ourselves now.

Staying with Brexit, it is fair to say that a major change has taken place in the European Parliament. Brexit as an issue once dominated the political discourse but it no longer commands the same level of interest. It is important to send out the message that while we in Ireland may still be very consumed about Brexit, Europe has moved on. There are technical discussions happening, most recently on the supply of medicines to Northern Ireland. The deep, meaningful, philosophical, political debates about Brexit in Europe are over. The euro bubble has moved on to more pressing issues. Brexit is a matter that I and other Irish MEPs must keep an eye on because there are still issues around the protocol that require Ireland to be alert and ready to act.

As an MEP I have seen first-hand the impact of attentive national governments on issues going through the European Parliament. Prior to it assuming the Presidency in January, the French Government was invested in finding out well in advance what was happening in the Parliament and then, crucially, seeking to influence its outcome for its interests. Political Ireland has not yet caught on with the post-Lisbon reality of Parliament being an equal co-legislator with the Council. While we do get great support from the permanent representative on legislative files, there are many other files that if not dealt with appropriately may cause issues down the road for Ireland. We know from experience that opinions and own initiative reports from Parliament now influence Commission proposals because of the fact that we are co-legislators.

Ireland needs to have a conversation on a couple of issues. One such issue is what exactly membership of the European Union means to it. Long gone is the idea that we are solely a trading, economic or customs bloc. We are now a Union of values, ideas and principles. A great example of this is the ongoing crisis on our eastern frontiers. Europe's border with Russia, which now stretches over 3,000 km from Lapland in the far north to the Black Sea in the south, is under threat. That border is also our border. When one speaks to Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles and Romanians, they are genuinely fearful of an invasion at some stage from Russia. It is not being alarmist; it is just the way they see the world. To a certain extent, we are cocooned from that reality. This is known to all political groupings in the European Union who have members from those countries. They are genuinely fearful of that concept of Russian tanks being in a part of the European Union at some point in the future. The impact already in terms of cybersecurity and the threats that are continually being played out in those particular countries by Russia is very significant.

I again acknowledge the role the Seanad is playing in terms of promoting greater informed debate between it and the European Parliament.I also look forward to continual engagement on this issue. I thank the Seanad for the invitation and I look forward to the questions and answers.