Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in welcoming President von der Leyen in the building in which we have sat for the past 100 years, each year of which has been as a neutral state. The Taoiseach is correct that we have been proud Europeans for 50 years. We have been proud Europeans for much longer than 50 years. It is worth recalling that our initial attempt at accession was blocked as part of the power play between bigger states. For all of our proudness in being Europeans we have been avowedly neutral throughout.

The Taoiseach paid tribute to Lynch and Hillery who led our accession to the European Union. It is worth recalling that even when our own citizens were under attack by military forces and paramilitary forces backed by a state in a part of our island that we then considered part of our territory, they eschewed a military solution for a diplomatic one. They engaged in quiet diplomacy and not bombast. There is a difference. Their approach was vindicated subsequently. It is easy to fan the flames of war. It is easy to engage in jingoism, but wars very rarely end in unconditional surrender. Instead, they are brought to an end by people who engage in painful and painstaking negotiation with people and forces with whom they profoundly disagree because they believe in the greater goal of peace. I ask that the European Union be a force for peace in the world, as it was founded to be.