Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Is mór an onóir dom a bheith anseo ar an ócáid stairiúil seo. On behalf of the Fine Gael party, as you know, a proud member of the European People's Party, I am privileged to join with the Ceann Comhairle and the Taoiseach to welcome you to the Oireachtas today - there is a Cork thing going on today. Your leadership as President of the European Commission over the last three years and your friendship towards this island has time and time again proven indispensable to Ireland as we navigate the unprecedented challenges that have been faced. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about these three years is not the extent of the challenges our Union has faced, but the degree of solidarity with which we have collectively met those challenges. That is thanks to your able and steadfast leadership through that period of turmoil. During the darkest days of Covid-19, we saw that solidarity when our fellow citizens were airlifted from one member state to another, granting crucial relief to overburdened hospitals. We saw how you and your Commission led the purchase of life-saving vaccines to ensure that all 450 million EU citizens had fair access.

Ireland knows first-hand the value of European solidarity. Throughout the EU-UK negotiations following the Brexit vote, the European Commission has never once wavered in its solidarity with Ireland in a Union where, increasingly, we look out for one another. Four years ago, when your predecessor addressed this House, my colleagues thanked both him and Michel Barnier for the leadership they had shown through the Brexit negotiations. Today, I want to echo that gratitude by sincerely thanking you and, in particular, Vice-President Šefovi, for your tireless work in supporting peace in Northern Ireland, for your continued patience and intelligence and for your willingness to continue to look for solutions to the ongoing issues of concern around the Northern Ireland protocol.

The United Kingdom is our neighbour. It is our friend and a country that we and the rest of the EU want a deep partnership with, as they travel a new journey outside of the European Union.I hope that with a new UK Prime Minister and, indeed, a new context internationally, we can now grasp the opportunity to resolve our Brexit-related differences in the coming weeks through dialogue and compromise. I too believe a solution is within our grasp if we have a partner to achieve an outcome we can all accept and move on from.

In doing that, I hope we can create a basis for a new and stronger relationship at a time of international conflict and strife. The European Union is, after all, a peace project founded on bringing peace and stability to our shared Continent. That is why we in Ireland will not waver in our support for Ukraine. We have made it clear since the horrors of this war began that military non-alignment does not mean that we stand on the sidelines. In the face of Russian aggression and blatant breaches of international and humanitarian law, Ireland is not neutral. Indeed, following the leadership of the European Commission under President von der Leyen, Ireland stands in full solidarity with Ukraine and its people today and in the months ahead. Irish people have warmly accepted more than 65,000 Ukrainians into their communities across the country, in virtually every parish and indeed into their homes. We will continue to work with President von der Leyen financially and politically to support Ukraine in its fight to protect its own sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will work with her to protect the Ukrainian people from the brutality of Russian military attack on a daily basis.

We will also use every avenue at our disposal to hold Russia accountable for its actions and we will continue to support EU sanctions that increase the cost for the Kremlin of its continued aggression. We strongly support your efforts, President, to make progress on investigating and ultimately prosecuting Russia's crime of aggression in an international court setting supported by the EU and the UN. We look forward to the day when Ukraine will be part of our Union and we will continue to support Ukraine every step of the way on that journey towards full membership. For us, this is the essence of what our Union is all about - the right of every European country and every European citizen to enjoy the benefits of peace, prosperity, human rights, dignity, equality and the protections of the rule of law on which every citizen should insist.

Some 50 years ago, Ireland joined the then European Communities. I was delighted that President von der Leyen was able, earlier today, to meet some of the schoolchildren who took part in the Ireland EU50 Youth Competition. The Ireland in which those schoolchildren are growing up today is vastly different from that of 50 years ago. EU membership has transformed almost every aspect of Irish society. Ireland today has a modern, open and innovative economy at the heart of the EU Single Market but, more important, we have a diverse, open and tolerant society looking to the future with optimism. We are the better for all of that.

This peaceful and prosperous island is not just an Irish success; it is a European success. In this dark winter of war, we would do well to remember the hope that stems from the European story we have to share, written over the past 50 years. Yes, President von der Leyen, that is a story of optimism in the face of immense challenges. Thank you for your leadership and, perhaps more important, your continued ambition for the journey the EU must continue to travel. We are by your side.