Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State is welcome to the Chamber. I appreciate his being here. As most Senators have said, the European Union has had an incredibly positive impact on this State for the past 52 years. Ireland has been a beneficiary during its membership. We have, financially, been a net beneficiary for a long time. I remember driving on roads and seeing the signs for motorways that were built with investment from the European Union. We thought we were doing wicked well by convincing them all to give us money to build roads around the place. It worked, and Fianna Fáil benefited from it in elections during the 1990s. Our membership has been very beneficial. Even more beneficial has been the ability of our citizens to travel throughout Europe for work and education. Businesses have been able to open up new markets. It has been transformational for us as a State. Before we were a member of the European Union, we were probably seen as a country that was very reliant on the UK from an economic perspective. We were seen as the little brother of the UK who could not fend for itself. Look where we are now after 50-plus years of membership of the European Union. We have the fastest-growing economy among the 27 member states. We have full employment and are in a position that a lot of other countries would like to emulate, from an economic perspective. That is really positive and it is because of leadership and decisions that were made back in the 1970s. They could see the opportunities that were there for us as a country. Obviously, the European Union was set up initially as a peacemaking exercise, which has been very successful since the 1940s. While it has been challenged over the last number of years and while member states have different perspectives, as long as the European Union remains united with the single goal of remaining peaceful within the Union, we can have a very positive future ahead with our partners.

My party, Fine Gael, has played a very important leadership role in the European People's Party, which is the largest party in the European Union and has the largest number of prime ministers in it. I congratulate my party colleague, Ms Mairead McGuinness, who was elected yesterday as a vice president of the European People's Party. I know she will use her influence within that role to benefit the citizens of Ireland.

There are lots of challenges at the moment and obviously migration is an issue that is very difficult for countries right across the EU. I am a member of the Council of Europe, along with Senators Murphy and Stephenson. That council comprises 46 member states who focus, essentially, on human rights. The European Union has an obligation to improve upon and be more vocal about the legal requirements on all countries to uphold human rights and protect people who are fleeing countries across the world. It can become very political, as we have seen in the UK, here in Ireland as well as in France and Italy. Instead of countries individually trying to manage it, the European Union as a whole needs to take a stronger position, not in terms of blocking people but in terms of what the EU can do to support people who are fleeing conflicts and coming in legally, while also having a good border.

I note the Minister of State's comments on Ukraine. We need to continue our support for Ukraine. Ukrainians have been very appreciative over the last number of years of the support the Irish people have given them as well as the role the Irish Government has played within the European Union in trying to fast-track the country's membership of the EU. We should continue being vocal on that, along with other countries like Moldova.

The Minister of State also mentioned security, which is something we really need to wake up to. Senator McCarthy has left the Chamber but in his contribution he talked about the fear of losing our neutrality. There is literally no one talking about losing our neutrality. The only people who talk about it are people in opposition. We need to wake up. Most people in the country will agree that we have learned over the last number of months that America has changed. The leadership in America has changed and Europe cannot depend on America from a security perspective any more, as it could have done previously. The European Union needs to re-evaluate how it manages its security and Ireland has a role to play in that. We should be able to have a discussion without talking about losing our neutrality because there is no one suggesting that. No one on the Government side is suggesting that.

When we talk about things like the triple lock, that does not mean, as has been suggested in this House, that we are joining NATO and sending our citizens to war. None of that is happening. I absolutely respect people's view and understand that they might not be in favour of it or they are concerned about it but it has nothing to do with taking away our neutrality. That kind of spin has been put out for the last 50 years by political parties in opposition. In the 1970s when we were joining the European Union, one of Sinn Féin's main reasons for not joining was that it would take away our neutrality. That is clearly not the case. People have different views on it but if we are going to have a debate, we need to do it respectfully and not go down the road of scaremongering and talking about how we are going to lose our neutrality. Everyone in the country knows the importance that Ireland places on being neutral and we need to continue that.