Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, on her appointment and wish her the best in the role. She has shown herself to be very capable and I am certain she will represent us very effectively at discussions in Brussels and other European capitals. I also welcome her officials. The Minister of State is very fortunate in having some excellent officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs who have worked on all of these issues.

I agree with Senator Craughwell that we need a stand-alone Minister for Defence but today is about statements on Europe Day and Ireland's membership of the European Union. While I agree with almost everything my friend and colleague Senator Barry Ward said, I note he described Fine Gael as the most European of parties. He will forgive me for reminding him that it was Seán Lemass who made it one of his personal ambitions for Ireland to join the European Union; that it was Jack Lynch and Patrick Hillery who signed the deal to ensure that we joined the EU; that it was in 1990, when Ireland held the EU Presidency, that we saw the unification of Germany and the unified Germany come into the EU; and that it was the very important decision 20 years ago this month that saw ten new countries, mostly from central and eastern Europe, join during the time Bertie Ahern was Taoiseach. I would certainly say that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have consistently been the two parties that have supported Ireland taking its place among the nations of the world and being active on the European stage.

It is more important than ever that we have effective representation at a European level. Although I wish the best of luck to all of those contesting the forthcoming European Union elections, it is critical that those who are standing show how they will have an impact on Europe and make clear which group they are going to join in the European Parliament. In the case of my party, being part of the Renew Europe and ALDE group with others such as President Macron's party in France shows how we can have a real influence at the Council of Ministers and at European Parliament level.

It is important that we reflect. When Lemass took the decision to join, and even when Ireland joined in 1973, the majority of countries in Europe were not democracies. I am talking not only about the countries of central and eastern Europe but also Spain, Portugal and Greece.

We sometimes take for granted that Ireland is one of the world's longest continuous democracies. The role of the European Union in supporting democracy, human rights and the rule of law should never be underestimated. These are core values we should always strive to defend within the European Union - I am looking at you, Hungary - and indeed in terms of where the EU stands in world affairs. As the Minister of State mentioned, I especially welcome our continuous support for Ukraine becoming a full member of the European Union. We need to continue to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine to support them, and other countries such as Georgia, on the road to accession so that those countries can take their place at the heart of the European Union as Ireland has done.

In the coming years, we will face a number of big global challenges. I will refer to three on which the EU has a very important role to play and is playing its part. The first is the challenge of a sustainable planet and ensuring we address the challenges of climate change and biodiversity, which are at the heart of European policy. The second is the demographic challenge. Europe is becoming older. It is great that we are healthier and living longer but that brings its challenges. Finally, there is the technological challenge. This will increasingly dominate discussions. I welcome the suite of measures the Europe Union has adopted and is adopting, going back to GDPR, along with the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. This legislation will be critical in making it easier for European citizens to interact and do business online and ensuring our citizens are kept safe. With regard to the priority agenda, I suggest the Minister of State look at those three themes over the next mandate of the European Parliament and European Commission.

I will address a number of specific recommendations in areas around European co-operation, in which I am a great believer, as is the Minister of State. We can talk all we want about the policies but it is much better to get people into a room co-operating on issues in which they are interested and sharing ideas and experiences. As Senator Ward mentioned, we all remember our first trips to continental Europe. We recall meeting people from European groups with which our political families have shared interests and having debates and discussions with people around the future of Europe. To combat misinformation, disinformation and the rise of racism and xenophobia, the more opportunities we have for people to meet people from other cultures and traditions, the better.

Erasmus is a hugely successful programme. Peter Sutherland, as Ireland's then EU Commissioner, played a major role in its establishment. One of the challenges, particularly in higher education, is that the number of students and trainees who travel from Ireland to continental Europe has always been about half the number of incoming students and trainees. On an annual basis, just under 4,000 students and trainees in further and higher education in Ireland go to other European countries, whereas normally close to 8,000 students and trainees come here. We need to be much more proactive in encouraging Irish students. It is a difficulty that Ireland is English-speaking and there is often an attraction for people to come here, especially post-Brexit. We need a proactive programme to encourage more students from Ireland to take up the Erasmus programme, particularly students from areas of socioeconomic disadvantage for whom the costs are often greater. We need to look at the Erasmus programme in that regard.

Related to the Erasmus programme is the possibility of student exchange at second level. The Cathaoirleach mentioned that the ambassador of Slovakia to Ireland, Mr. Andrej Droba, was with him in Cork last week. I am very proud that the first ever student exchange and school twinning between a school in Ireland and a school in Slovakia happened in the last year. It was between Gorey Educate Together Secondary School and Gymnázium Bilíkova in Slovakia. There have been exchanges of students and staff, with students from Ireland going to Slovakia and vice versa. Many student exchanges to date have been primarily focused on France, Germany, Italy and Spain, for obvious reasons.Encouraging schools to engage in this direct exchange, particularly with countries in central and eastern Europe, would be welcome.

The DiscoverEU programme is very successful. It provides an opportunity every year for 35,000 18-year-olds throughout the EU to go Interrailing or travelling. Quite a number of Irish people take it up. I would love to see a situation whereby every 18-year-old in the EU is given this opportunity to travel. When people complete their leaving certificate, at that critical moment in their life, suddenly they have an opportunity to go to Warsaw, Rome or Athens and have this first experience with their peers. If we can fulfil that, that would make an enormous difference.

The Horizon Europe programme supports research. In this era, when we still have the knowledge economy and the knowledge society, there have been great examples of Irish higher education institutions and enterprises being able to engage and draw down funding from Horizon Europe in partnership. I say respectfully that more can be done. We have not been sufficiently ambitious under the programme. The fact the UK has rejoined Horizon Europe is something that is very welcome. We need to explore more of the opportunities on this.

People often speak about the economic, education and trade links. The cultural links in Europe are also critical. This week, as the Minister of State may be aware, marks the 200th anniversary of the first performance of Beethoven's ninth symphony. We have had 200 years of "Ode to Joy", the European anthem. Under the Creative Europe programme, there are significant opportunities for exchange. We need to promote it far more among our artists. We tend to focus on the English-speaking world for obvious reasons but partnership can be developed a lot more with artistic and creative communities in continental Europe.