Micheál Martin
Question:2. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War in Paris. [48113/18]
View answerTuesday, 4 December 2018
Questions (2, 3, 4, 5)
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:3. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent engagements with the President of Finland, Mr. Sauli Niinistö, and the Prime Minister of Finland, Mr. Juri Sipilä. [48235/18]
View answer
Michael Moynihan
Question:4. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Taoiseach if he spoke with President Trump while in Paris on Armistice Day. [48373/18]
View answer
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:5. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War in Paris. [50806/18]
View answerOral answers (10 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 5, inclusive, together.
I travelled to Helsinki last month where I had bilateral meetings with the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, and the Prime Minister of Finland, Juha Sipilä on 7 November. Finland and Ireland are like-minded on many issues and both bilateral meetings were very warm and constructive.
In my meeting with Prime Minister Sipilä, we discussed a range of issues across the EU agenda, including Brexit, migration and economic issues, such as the multi-annual financial framework and economic and monetary union. We also looked forward to Finland's upcoming Presidency of the Council of Ministers in the second half of 2019. In my meeting with President Niinistö, issues raised included security, defence and external relations, including the EU's relations with Russia, an issue which is of particular concern in Finland.
In both my meetings, we also discussed bilateral relations between Finland and Ireland, which are excellent, and agreed to continue work to further strengthen our strategic relationship. I also took the opportunity to thank both leaders for their solidarity throughout the Brexit negotiations. I also attended a networking event later that day hosted by our ambassador to Finland where I met Irish business, cultural and community representatives.
On 11 November, I travelled to Paris where I represented Ireland at the Armistice Day commemorations. A total of 84 Heads of State and Government gathered at the Arc de Triomphe to remember those who lost their lives or were wounded in the First World War. This was a solemn occasion and served as a stark reminder of the tragedy of war and the need to focus our efforts on working together at European and international level to ensure that history does not repeat itself. President Macron hosted the event and I had the opportunity to speak with him upon arrival and in the margins of the ceremonies.
I also had informal exchanges with other counterparts, including several European and African leaders as well as Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada and the heads of international organisations. I did not have an opportunity to speak extensively with President Trump on this occasion, although we did exchange greetings.
The 100th anniversary of the armistice ending the First World War was an important moment for remembering a war that still has much to teach us. In the significant amount of scholarship published in recent years, the consensus points to it being a war that was far from inevitable. It followed an extended period of peace and growth in Europe and there was no compelling reason for war, even in terms of the values of the time. Ultimately, what was seen was a lack of strong rules-based organisations that could ensure trust and co-operation between countries. This remains a powerful lesson for today, one that, unfortunately, some parts of the English political class have chosen to ignore. It is an interesting fact of history that those who fought in the two world wars were the biggest enthusiasts for what we now call the European Union. Given the success of the commemorative programme of recent years and the significant level of public engagement, can the Taoiseach assure us that the commemoration's budget will remain intact? Given the central role of our academic historians not only in researching the period but also in opening up scholarship to the public, will the Taoiseach reconsider the recent policy of that has seen a steady downgrading of the role of humanities research in the State's research strategy and, of greater significance, funding for postgraduate doctorates in the humanities? A mechanism is available to facilitate greater scholarship in that area. I established it in the late 1990s.
In respect of the Taoiseach's meetings in Finland, we welcome bilateral meetings with countries such as Finland that have always had very constructive relations with Ireland. The trip had the added benefit for the Taoiseach of combining an official trip to Helsinki with the congress of the European People's Party, EPP, which happened to be held at the same time in the same city.
Following his bilateral meeting with his EPP colleague, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, earlier this year, the Taoiseach told the House that we should be understanding of Prime Minister Orbán's belief that he is protecting Hungary. Does the Taoiseach still believe this? He will have seen yesterday that a highly rated university has been driven out of Hungary because of the Orbán Government's analysis and hysterical campaign against anything funded by George Soros. The undertones of scapegoating, fearmongering and anti-Semitism are obvious. Orbán has also launched a campaign against the few pieces of the free media that are left and all non-governmental organisations, NGOs, that are not supportive of him. He has even enacted legislation to ban state funding of gender studies in universities. Is the Taoiseach aware of any more obvious violations of agreed EU values and rules? Does he believe that enough is being done to face down Orbánism?
The centenary commemorative events provided a moment and opportunity for many families the length and breadth of this land and beyond to remember in a very specific way the members of their family who fell in what was termed the Great War. In the midst of that very necessary remembrance of young lives lost - an entire generation - in the killing fields of Flanders, it is very important that we do not lose sight of the waste and sin of imperial war. Ireland learned that lesson because Irish blood was spilled.
In that spirit and being mindful of the fact that in a post-Brexit scenario, the battle is under way for the future of Europe and what the European project ought to be. There is a very obvious contradiction involving those of a federalist mindset who correctly cite the success of the European project as the world's greatest peace project, yet insist on the need for increased militarisation and, like the Taoiseach's friend, President Macron, the necessity of a European army. The Taoiseach spoke to his counterpart in Finland which, like Ireland, is militarily neutral. I put it to him, as Head of Government, that as this debate about the future of Europe unfolds, all of us who are in favour of military neutrality should protect that status and seek expression of it in the European treaties. Structured co-operation, NATO and all the ambitions of the militarists are codified and found within the treaties. Why do they not also feature our identity, ambition, distinct tradition and belief in the need for the European project to keep faith with the peace mission? Will the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, seek their inclusion within the treaties? That would be a positive and necessary contribution to this debate at this time.
At the armistice event on 11 November, President Emmanuel Macron warned against the dangers of nationalism rising in Europe. In particular, he referred to the dangers of the far right. We need to be very conscious of the dangers posed by the far right and the sort of political forces that gave us the horrors of the first part of the 20th century. When he looks at the uprising and protests taking place in France with the so-called yellow jackets, does the Taoiseach agree that Emmanuel Macron has shown a complete inability to understand the lessons of the 1920s and 1930s by imposing an unjust, regressive austerity flat tax on struggling working people in France and couching it in progressive environmental terms? By imposing it on people suffering from poverty, precarious work and a series of austerity attacks, President Macron is making precisely the same mistake that was made in the aftermath of the First World War with the Treaty of Versailles, which imposed austerity on Germany with disastrous consequences. If we want to avoid the disasters of the 1920s 1930s and 1940s, we must not attack ordinary people with regressive and unjust taxes and austerity measures. In fact, we should stand with the protesting yellow jackets who are saying they are not responsible for the economic mess in France and they have not threatened the environmental future of the planet.
The very wealthy have done that. This is the irony of what is going on in France. At the same time he imposes these fuel tax increases, President Macron has cut the wealth tax in France. The wealthy are going to see a 6% increase in their income while working people and the poor in France are being hammered under the guise of a so-called environmental tax. President Macron has shown exactly the wrong way to avoid the disasters of the 1920s and 1930s. We should learn the lessons here too.
The European Union was established to end all wars on the Continent of Europe and it has been, with a number of exceptions, remarkably successful. Everybody who identifies with the European Union is very conscious of that. Irish neutrality, as a concept and a policy, owes its origin to the slaughter of Irish men, and it was mostly men, in the First World War, who signed up for a variety of reasons to fight, as some saw it, for the freedom of small nations and ended up being slaughtered on the battlefields over a four-year period.
Does the Taoiseach support the recent statement by the Minister for Education and Skills that will see the restoration of history as a critical subject for young people in schools, particularly at secondary level, as well as at primary school level? Is it important that our young people know about this history and how wars on the European Continent largely came to an end?
In the context of the remembrance of the Great War, as it was called, does the Taoiseach propose to celebrate Irish neutrality? I know, within his own party and the party it is aligned to in Europe, as with all the other groups, there are people who are for neutrality policy and armies which are essentially for domestic defence rather than parts of greater co-operation and structures. Where do the Taoiseach's feelings lie? It is important that, as Taoiseach, he should not be dragged willy-nilly into a European federalist structure which would include the notion of a grand European army.
Does the Taoiseach accept Irish neutrality? Does he believe it should be expanded and developed and that neutrality is an especially appropriate position for Ireland, as a small country, and the other neutral European nations to take? Does he acknowledge that the respect which the Irish Defence Forces and other structures like the Garda command internationally in European peacekeeping is because we are recognised as a former colonial country which is neutral and is therefore particularly suited to helping to keep the peace and enforce peace around the world?
I think we will all agree that the First World War, or the Great War, was a truly terrible war that caused great suffering and the death of tens of millions of both soldiers and civilians. Its impact and the changes that followed therefrom still affect us and echo in the politics of today. Some good lessons were learned from the First World War. There was a move away from monarchy towards republics in large parts of Europe. There were at least attempts at multilateralism. The establishment of the League of Nations after the First World War was a progressive step in the right direction. Unfortunately, it did not succeed as an organisation, or certainly did not succeed in preventing the Second World War, but did form a template for the United Nations which came thereafter.
Another result of the First World War was a growth in the belief that nation states should have self-determination and, after the First World War, there emerged new nation states across Europe, including our own. Movements for disarmament also followed, as well as opposition to secret treaties. Many of the lessons that were learned from the First World War were well learned and I would not like to see them forgotten.
I think Prime Minister Orbán believes what he is saying about the Central European University, CEU, in Hungary, but that is not to say that I agree with him and I do not. I do not agree with him on quite a lot of issues, whether it is migration, academic freedom, press freedom, or the freedom of NGOs to be able to operate freely in a democratic society. The loss of the Central European University would be a loss to Budapest and Hungary. I understand it may be going to Vienna, where it is being welcomed by another of my European People's Party, EPP, colleagues, Chancellor Kurz. The CEU will be Vienna's gain and Budapest's loss.
On EU integration, I have said before on many occasions in this House that Ireland will not be joining NATO or a European army. I believe Irish neutrality is an asset. We are a small country and will never be a military power. Any military contribution we would make to Europe's defence could only ever be very limited. We can be powerful through our peacekeeping, foreign policy, international development aid and commitment to organisations like the United Nations. That Ireland is not a member of a military alliance is an advantage for the reasons Deputy Burton articulated. When it comes to the United Nations, for example, there is recognition that Ireland is a country with which other countries can identify, especially other island nations and nations that were colonised or a part of a larger nation. For example, in peacekeeping operations, the fact that we are not part of a military alliance means we can go places where perhaps other countries do not go, or would not be accepted.
I will have to double check, but I think our neutrality and non-alignment is already expressed in the treaties. I think it is in the Lisbon protocols.
It is.
I see a former Minister for Foreign Affairs nodding, so I think it is already expressed in the treaties.
It is in the protocols.
I support Ireland's participation in permanent structured co-operation, PESCO. That was endorsed by a very large majority in this House. That means Ireland participating in greater co-operation around security and defence with our European partners where we believe it makes sense to do so. For example, that could be in areas such as peacekeeping. Ireland participates in an EU mission in Mali which is an important contribution to trying to stabilise that part of the world. The Irish Naval Service has participated in operations in the Mediterranean, particularly around the management of the migration issue on the central Mediterranean route. We also need to co-operate on issues such as international terrorism, cybersecurity and other security threats that, quite frankly, no small country, or even big country, would be able to deal with on their own. That is why it makes sense for us to co-operate in a structured way on security issues and we intend to do that.
As Deputies are aware, the yellow jacket protests in France were spurred by opposition to increased taxes on fuel. Increasing taxes on fuel have benefits for the environment, pollution and health. For example, we know that diesel causes damage to people's health because of the emissions of sulphur oxide, SOx, and nitrogen oxide, NOx particles. If a tax causes people to buy or use less of something, in the same way as we tax cigarettes, for example, that can have environmental and health benefits and reduce pollution.
The reaction in France is a lesson to us when we consider how to increase carbon tax over the next couple of years. We have seen the French experience with increases in fuel taxes. We have seen what happened in Australia, where public opposition to increased taxes on petrol, diesel and other fuels brought down a government and prime ministers. We can see a model that may work being pursued in Canada, which is to bring in a carbon tax and price, but to rebate that to people in the form of tax credits or carbon dividends.
Essentially, the money that accrues from the introduction of a carbon tax is given back to people in another way. That allows people to understand that a carbon tax is an attempt to change behaviour, rather than an attempt to take money out of their pockets.