Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the three MEPs and thank them for their presentations. Mr. Kelleher at the outset talked about the Seanad being a Chamber of non-partisan politics and that is partly true. It is also well recognised that the three MEPs among us work collectively on behalf of the Irish people and the island of Ireland when they work in the European Parliament, notwithstanding the fact that they are in different groups and come from different political backgrounds. That is one of the important things about the way in which the island of Ireland has been represented both North and South when the North was part of the European Union. Regardless of the tradition or the party, those who represented did so in a collegial way and in the best interests. I am glad that is largely continuing.

They have all set out their very clear objectives. They have identified their concerns and they reflect on the concerns of this House and the wider people. If we were here two and a half years ago, the entire debate would have been dominated by Brexit. It has not gone away or been resolved. The outcome is not clear but it has somewhat faded in significance because of the geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine, and not just the potential for war on the mainland of Europe, something we thought would be the furthest thing we would be thinking about right now with the development of the European Union and its continuous growth. As the Cathaoirleach said at the outset, it is, and was, designed to be one of the greatest peace projects in the history of Europe.

Notwithstanding that, we have seen the emergence of a policy by the leader of Russia over a prolonged period. It is growing in strength and stature again and reasserting itself in an aggressive way towards its nearest neighbour. In the first instance, that is deeply disturbing from a political perspective. It has major ramifications for us economically, which obviously are secondary to the humanitarian issues that will be experienced on the ground. Following on from the pandemic, it is something that is deeply concerning when we consider the extent to which most countries in Europe have borrowed very significantly to address the health crisis attached to Covid-19 and are now figuring out where they move or what kinds of policies move forward from an economic perspective. To have the uncertainty of this aggression thrown in certainly shows that nothing remains the same at European level. We move from Brexit to Covid-19 and now to the potential for, as some might indicate, a third world war, something which obviously we hope does not happen.

I thank our guests sincerely for their ongoing engagement, which, as the Cathaoirleach indicated, is part of an engagement with us in a two-way dialogue. I know all the MEPs keep in contact with a group. I suppose I have more contact with Mr. Kelleher because of the party affiliation. The way in which he communicates with the Fianna Fáil parliamentarians and the wider public he represents is certainly exemplary.We would want to recognise his assistant, Mr. Donnacha Maguire, who is also in the Chamber today. He neatly fitted in among the young people there and he did not even stand out as being anything other than one of them. Of course, that helps to keep Mr. Kelleher in vogue with the younger population.