Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber a couple of days after Europe Day to speak about the value Europe has brought to us, as a country. This year more than ever we realise Europe was set up as a peace project. That was the main driver of it. Ireland has specifically benefited from that peace project, economically, infrastructurally and culturally. This year we are having these statements in the shadow of the invasion of one neighbouring state by another. For the second time since the Second World War, we are seeing crimes against humanity brought to our Continent. This underlines why Europe has been and continues to be so important. We have not been under threat in the way we are now since the Second World War. We are entering a phase where the countries that have traditionally been the powerhouses of Europe, such as France, have a growing number of people who are questioning the European project. This is a critical time for us to prove the value of Europe as an ethical, democratic counterweight in world affairs to other more nefarious countries. If we do not hold Europe together we potentially have the threat of a much more powerful Russia and a powerful China. Europe needs to be the leader in taking a democratic, ethical and human rights-based approach. It needs to be human rights-based player in diplomatic and world affairs.

We have the challenges of Brexit on this island. Every Senator regrets that the UK decided to leave the EU and saw itself as having a stronger place in world affairs outside it. It is very much the last gasp of a dying empire. Over the last number of years, given what is happening with living standards falling, food not being available on shelves and the UK's petrol crisis, we see the value being a member of a co-ordinated EU can bring. I hope the UK revisits its decision, but it is important for us, in the context of that decision, to reiterate our commitment to the EU and that we are strong Europeans and very much part of the Continent.

As a final point, I raise the climate response and the potential for the EU to address the climate challenges facing us by means of a co-ordinated effort. Part of the political discourse that has become popular is that small, individual actions do not matter, that it is all about the top number of companies that are emitting and that, somehow, it will be somebody else's actions that solve the climate problem. The latter will only be solved by co-ordinated action by everybody at individual, national, global, institutional and corporate level. The EU, as one of the big economic powerhouses, has the opportunity to force companies to take proper, sustained and viable climate action. As Senator Ó Donnghaile said, Ireland is strategically placed as far as wind energy is concerned. We have wind in the north of the country and we have solar in the south. Central Europe is reliant on that energy. It creates a great opportunity for Ireland, but also Europe, to move to net zero by 2050. We will be able to realise that only by sustained and co-ordinated action on the part of all member states. A global challenge requires a global response, and a strong EU will be able to deliver that.