Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is 50 years since Ireland gained European membership. I will refer to a couple of lines from two speeches. In this very Chamber on 14 July 1966, the late Dr. Garret FitzGerald, then a Senator, said:

If the Government fail to pursue this aim as thoroughly and as efficiently as we think is desirable, we will be pressing them from behind ... It will do no harm to our position in Brussels and in this country if it is seen that this House is concerned about this matter.

That was in 1966 before 21 March 1972 when the then Taoiseach, Deputy Jack Lynch said, "Surely it is self-evident that if we were to remain outside the Community we would be conferring on the Border the status of a frontier, both economic and political, between ourselves and the rest of Europe". Those are very important words from two great leaders from this country.

I know many have acknowledged the role that both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil played in their representation in Europe. We have had some very fine MEPs who have represented us in the past. We have very fine MEPs who represent the majority of us and the majority of the MEPs are very honourable.

The role of Sinn Féin in Europe was mentioned. I served on the Committee of the Regions for some years. While there was a representative from Sinn Féin there at that time, they would abstain on all the votes because they were not part of a group. They actually never voted in that time. That is a terrible indictment. When one is there one is wearing the Irish jersey. Ireland has benefited so much from Europe over the years. Even going back to the local authorities we can think of the amount of European projects that have taken place. There is money that comes for greenways and blueways. There are so many really important things like many of our roads. Ireland had very poor roads for many years. Only for funding from Europe we have connectivity and other projects. There is education. Then connectivity between Ireland and Europe. There is actually a GAA club in Brussels. People from Croatia play alongside people from other European countries. That shows the very strong role that Ireland plays over there.

Back when I was mayor of Limerick around 2010-11 it was the European city of sport, one of three such cities. The GAA international convention came. People from all across Europe came to Limerick to play GAA over a weekend. It was a really positive event. It just shows the importance of sport in terms of uniting different countries.

Others have mentioned the applications of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia to join the EU.I support the acceleration of their applications. I met the Moldovan ambassador last night. Moldova wants to become part of Europe and thinks it has a strong role to play. The ambassador made some very valid points. It is something that I would like to strongly support. Peace and harmony is very much part of the ethos and theme of Europe Day 2022. With the war which has been ongoing for the last two months it is really important that peace is there. Peace was there on the agenda 50 years ago and it is still there today. It is something that does unite a lot of our countries.

Becoming a member of a party in the European Parliament is about working together collaboratively to support projects but also learning from each other. The experience of other countries is something that we in Ireland have benefited from. It is important that we mark the day. I congratulate the Minister of State for the job he is doing in representing us in Europe.