Address by An Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, at European Manifesto Launch, 24 May 2024

 

A positive approach to Ireland’s place in Europe is a fundamental policy for Fianna Fáil. In this election we are standing on the basis of an absolutely clear position that we believe Ireland’s MEPs should use their position to deliver concrete action for the Irish people.

 

Action to support employment, to promote the interests of our rural and urban communities, to defend democratic values, to protect Ireland’s ability to achieve prosperity through trade with Europe and the wider world.

 

I believe that on Friday June 7th we will vote in the most important elections to the European Parliament since the direct elections began.

 

The European Union and its member states are faced today with enormous threats. Powerful voices want Europe to fail – they want the idea of strong, rule-based international cooperation to be undermined. They reject the idea of working together to achieve economic, social, and environmental progress.

 

One powerful enemy of Europe is currently waging a bloody war against a people because they want a European future. And within Europe, country after country is seeing extreme parties and candidates campaigning to try to roll-back the European Union.

 

This matters profoundly for Ireland.

 

Hundreds of thousands of jobs, resources to fund our schools and pensions, and our very access to much of the world depend on our membership of the European Union. Not one person, party or organisation can challenge this simple fact: Ireland needs a strong, effective European Union.

 

Fianna Fáil is deeply proud of its record on Europe. Having brought Ireland into what is now the European Union, we have been consistent in working to find ways of helping both Ireland and Europe to develop. We have shown how we can work with others to get things done time and time again.

 

I very much understand that people do not want to hear history lessons about how the European Union helped Ireland to grow from a position of being Europe’s poorest country to one which has seen every group’s standard of living rise and millions more Irish people being able to stay in their own country.

 

The facts of the importance of the European Union to our progress are indisputable, but what matters more is that Europe actually is more important to Ireland today than at any other point.

 

The United Kingdom is much bigger than Ireland in its population and economy, but the most recent reports from their own official statistics show that the price of Euroscepticism is now over €2,000 per household every year.

Lower growth, lower employment, lower incomes, lower funding for public services – that is the reality.

 

How much damage would Ireland face if we lacked the guaranteed markets, the shared standards, the cooperation which we get from being active and positive members of the European Union?

 

We must always strongly represent our interests and continue to be willing to stand against the majority when we disagree with a policy – but no positive purpose is served by indulging those who act as if Europe is our opponent.

 

It is time for Ireland to step-up and play its role in pushing back the destructive, anti-EU forces which are more active today than ever before.

 

For far too long we have taken the European Parliament for granted. We have become known throughout Europe as a country which benefits deeply from EU membership, but which still regularly elect representatives to the European Parliament who repeatedly attack and undermine the Union.

 

We have for some time had one of the highest proportions of out MEPs be part of one of the extreme groups in the Parliament which oppose everything and focus on attacking the EU.

 

This is not an empty political charge, it is a fact borne out by the performance of many of Ireland’s MEPs over the years.

 

Our four members of the extreme left group speak more than others but by every measure achieve almost nothing.

They constantly stand with the minority in the far left and far right who vote against everything and never succeed in getting positive policy proposals.

 

Ireland’s MEPs currently include Europe’s loudest defenders of worldwide dictatorships and opponents of the very idea that Europe has values which need to be defended.

 

Some of these MEPs spend more time working to legitimise rigged elections in dictatorships than they spend in their own constituencies.

 

It is true that Sinn Fein has very recently started to try to moderate its image on Europe – claiming that the party is not actually anti-EU though. However, the facts are inconvenient for Sinn Fein.

 

Having opposed membership and every single Treaty, Sinn Fein stated in its last manifesto that it would stay in Europe but seek to scale-back the Union and its powers. This position is exactly the same as defined the British Tories for decades.

 

In the European Parliament, its MEPs have become known for achieving little, with their current MEP having the highest record for missing votes or abstaining. Missing or abstaining on over 2,100 votes is not the record of a party which is committed to making the European Parliament work for Ireland. All MEPs miss some votes or abstain, but this is a completely different level.

 

There are many candidates of the right and the left who are campaigning to go to Brussels to give speeches for five years. They don’t intend achieving anything, and with the rising number of anti-EU parties in Europe they will side with those who want to tear down the Union.

 

You don’t need a crystal ball to know that if we return more, loud anti-EU candidates they will have the same record as always – they will achieve nothing for Ireland and they will weaken our voice in the Parliament.

 

Fianna Fáil is absolutely clear where we stand. We believe in a strong and effective European Union. We believe that Ireland is stronger when Europe works. We believe that we need to work with other countries, positively and constructively if we want to achieve progress for Ireland.

 

We want to send representatives to the Parliament who will do the much harder work of building alliances, working on the detail of proposals, and always staying in touch with the people they represent.

 

Our two outgoing MEPs have shown repeatedly how Fianna Fáil can make a difference for Ireland in the Parliament.

 

Both Billy Kelleher and Barry Andrews are widely respected as two highly effective MEPs. In areas like supporting job creation, developing new technologies and helping rural communities they have been tireless and effective workers on behalf of Ireland and Europe.

 

The voting records of the Parliament show how they have used our position in the pivotal RENEW group to maximise our impact. Fianna Fáil’s MEPs are the most effective in the Parliament when measured by the ability to be part of and build winning coalitions. They deliver far fewer angry speeches than others but have dramatically more impact.

 

Working to join Billy and Barry are new candidates at this level who bring a wide range of backgrounds and experience, and the ability to represent different parts of our country.

 

In Cynthia Ni Mhurchu, Niall Blaney, Lisa Chambers and Barry Cowen we are putting forward candidates who have the ability to hit the ground running. Each one is emphasising a positive agenda of how they want to use membership of the European Parliament to promote their constituencies and Ireland as a whole.

 

They are not asking to go to Europe to deliver lectures to people about how terrible everything is – they are determined to work on solutions.

 

These include initiatives on areas like coordinated action to help address the housing crisis which is found in not only Ireland but much of Europe. It includes a commitment to push for joint initiatives to reduce the cost of drugs.

 

It includes pushing for action to directly and properly fund measures which show how we can have both a sustainable agrifood industry and protect our environment.

 

During the next Parliament there will be major votes on the Budget and rural supports. Our MEPs will vote to maximise direct aid for sustainable farming communities. The CAP is essential for diverse economic, social, cultural, and environmental reasons. It guarantees our food security and has an importance well beyond the agri-food industry.

 

We will continue to support fair trade where it opens up opportunities for Ireland.

 

We believe that Europe must invest more in the skills and ideas which are essential to protect and promote well-paid employment in the modern economy. As such we will support expanded budget funding for research and innovation.

 

And as we have demonstrated so clearly in recent months in relation to Gaza, we will use Ireland’s position in the Union to work with other countries to actively promote our values in international relations. Our ability to work with and build coalitions with other member states gives us a voice many times more effective than standing alone.

 

While some other parties and independents are actively trying to avoid admitting which group they will sit with if elected, Fianna Fáil’s MEPs are clear that they will sit with the RENEW Europe group – a democratic group which believes in a Europe which helps all of its members.

 

And on the biggest political issues of our time, Fianna Fáil’s candidates are committed to defending Europe and its values. They will not speak up for dictators. They will not waste five years on attacking our shared Union.

 

A positive agenda of promoting Ireland in a stronger and more effective European Union. This is Fianna Fáil’s message for the election on June 7th and for the next five years.