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Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 July 2020

Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Ceisteanna (2, 3, 4)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceist:

2. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the discussions he has had with other heads of government since he assumed his position. [16788/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceist:

3. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach the matters he plans to raise at the European Council meeting. [16790/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Alan Kelly

Ceist:

4. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the European Council. [16883/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí ó Béal (10 píosaí cainte)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 4, inclusive, together.

Since taking office I have spoken by telephone with several leaders, including German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, and the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausda. I attended a special July meeting of the European Council in Brussels, the focus of which was the budgetary package for the European Union for the next seven years, the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, and a new recovery proposal, Next Generation European Union, NGEU.

I am pleased to inform the House that earlier today the European Council reached agreement on a €1.8 trillion package to drive Europe's economic recovery and the climate and digital transformations. These were especially challenging negotiations, lasting for more than four days. With a significant number of other leaders I supported an ambitious approach, capable of meeting the scale of the challenges we are facing and equipping the European Union well for the future. That is what was agreed.

I met with my counterparts both formally and informally over the course of the meeting. I set out Ireland's position directly in my discussions with President Charles Michel, including in a joint meeting that the Prime Ministers of Belgium and Luxembourg and I had with him and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

As the House knows, protecting the Common Agricultural Policy was a priority for Ireland. The outcome delivers that, including a special allocation of €300 million to reflect the challenges facing the sector here. In further support for peace and reconciliation, the European Union will provide €120 million for the PEACE PLUS programme, an additional €20 million to what we had secured prior to the meeting. Together with funding from the Irish Government, which will match this contribution, and the UK Government, which has made a commitment in this regard, this paves the way for a very substantial fund to support valuable projects on the peace and reconciliation front.

The European Union has stood shoulder to shoulder with Ireland during the Brexit process. The package we agreed includes a €5 billion Brexit adjustment reserve which will help to support those member states and sectors most affected. The Government will now work hard to maximise the benefits available to Ireland. In addition, funding for competitive funds such as Horizon Europe has been substantially increased through the MFF and NGEU. We will work to ensure that Irish researchers and enterprises can access them.

Our discussions took place in the context of one of the most serious situations the European Union has faced. Covid-19 will continue to challenge our health systems and disrupt our economies for the foreseeable future. Governments across the Union are spending and borrowing significant amounts of money to drive economic recovery and get people back to work. Later this week the Government will announce an important stimulus package of our own. The agreement reached in Brussels on the MFF and NGEU will complement and support these efforts. It will also send a message to the world that the European Union has risen to the challenge and is united in facing it.

I look forward to briefing the House in more detail in my statement tomorrow.

The Taoiseach mentioned the discussions in Europe about the need for a stimulus and the package that has just been agreed. I referred to something earlier which I find quite shocking. It beggars belief, to be honest. The EU4Health programme was a €9.4 billion programme to create strategic medical stockpiles and a pan-EU medical response force, strengthen public health systems, improve warning systems for epidemics and generally boost and increase healthcare capacity in response to Covid-19. One of the outcomes of the discussions which the Taoiseach is trumpeting as a success was that this fund is being cut from €9.4 billion to €1.7 billion. Is that true? I find that absolutely unbelievable, and it is indicative of how all of the concern about the health dimension of the Covid-19 crisis has dropped off the agenda and it is back to business now. I think that is reflected and will be reflected in the lack of focus on our health services in the Government's own stimulus. It seems to start at the top in Europe, presumably with austerity hawks. Was the Taoiseach aware of this cut? Did he argue against it? It is just shocking that when we should be massively increasing support to and investment in public health services, the original plan for €9.4 billion in funding was reduced to €1.7 billion. Will the Taoiseach confirm whether that is true, what he said about it, and what this reflects in terms of priorities?

I too would like to hear a very clear answer to those questions in respect of the health funding. Given that we are in the throes of a global pandemic and a public health emergency, it is extraordinary that moneys promised for a health programme would vanish like snow off a ditch, it seems, and we need to know what position the Taoiseach took on that.

I would also like a clearer answer than the Taoiseach was prepared to give earlier in respect of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, budget. I would like him simply to confirm or deny, in very simple terms, whether the budget will be cut by 9% in constant prices when compared with the last seven-year multi-annual financial framework, MFF, programme. It is a straightforward enough question and I would like the Taoiseach to answer it.

Will the Taoiseach tell us whether workers' rights formed any part of his discussion with EU partners? I am very conscious that the levels of precarious employment, low-paid employment and all of that will be exacerbated in the Covid and post-Covid environment. To what extent was that consideration part of the agenda? Did the Taoiseach advance any of those issues and what positions did he take?

First, there is an existing health programme within the multi-annual financial framework. There are two dimensions to this, namely, the multi-annual financial framework, which is the seven-year budget for the European Union, and, alongside that, the Next Generation EU recovery fund. Going into the summit, the Commission's proposal was for a €750 billion package. The Commission and the President of the Council, along with a number of member states, including ours - I was a very strong advocate of this - wanted the proportion to be more grants than loans. Going in, it was approximately €500 billion in grants and the remainder in loans. The frugal four, as they are called, of four member states, disagreed vehemently in regard to the size of the package - €1.8 trillion when one combines the two - and in regard to the balance and ratio between grants and loans. The entire dynamic of the Council was trying to resist efforts to cut the grant dimension which had been proposed by the Commission.

The fund was not in any existing budget. The fund was something that had not been agreed but was to include significant additional amounts, including for health. The Deputies are correct in terms of what happened to the health funding. I would have argued trenchantly in terms of the need to preserve the grants. We fought for their retention and we wanted the maximum amount in grants. I made the argument that there is no point in piling debt upon debt on member states that are in difficulty as a result of Covid-19. That was my absolutely unequivocal position. I said that Ireland, historically, had benefited from cohesion funding and solidarity in Europe when one compares where we were in the 1970s with where we are today. Equally, Ireland is an exporting country, and if Europe recovers significantly, we will do well. That is the overarching theme I approached this with, while also seeking to protect our core budgets and the Common Agricultural Policy. The latter, on current, is retained, which is an extraordinary achievement in itself. The issue regarding constant versus current is a fair point, but there is no way that people can understate the significance of what was achieved, given the UK's exit and the resources that went with the UK, in terms of the retention of Common Agricultural Policy plus the Brexit special reserve fund of €5 billion, for which Ireland and others are in the front line in terms of being negatively impacted by Brexit.

The real battle was to try to maintain the level of the overall package so that Europe could respond at scale. What we are getting is that all those projected amounts were put into the Next Generation EU fund, which had never been agreed and was still there to be debated. We had to get an agreement, which I think was important, with those countries that are net contributors but which were clearly - this is public knowledge, not just my view - vehemently against giving the grants at all. They started out with a zero grant position and we have ended up at around €390 billion in grants funding and €360 billion for loans. We have retained the level that was there.

The frugal four, or is it five now, should be more aptly described as the austerity hawks. "Frugal four" is just too nice for the attitude these people seem to be taking. I am absolutely stunned that one of the victims of this negotiation should be an eightfold reduction in a health scheme to respond to Covid. The EU4Health programme and the details of it are set out on the EU's website. It tells us that there is this fantastic programme which is about recognising the lessons of Covid-19 and responding at every level to support and increase healthcare capacity. The website goes into great detail about the programme, but now it has, in effect, been eliminated at these negotiations, which are being heralded as a success, when we are facing the very strong likelihood of a second wave. It beggars belief. I will bring this particular issue up later but when one thinks about the St. Mary's nursing home and Caritas convalescent centre on Merrion Road, which is being closed down by the Sisters of Charity at a time when we desperately need nursing home capacity, and when we think about what happened in nursing homes during the Covid-19 crisis, it is extraordinary that the EU has slashed the budget that might give us the resources and funds to invest in those critical areas.

When we think of the difficulties that were experienced across the European Union and beyond in respect of the provision of personal protective equipment, PPE, and the really harrowing scenes we saw in hospitals - I am thinking of northern Italy, where it was a race for ventilators - and reflecting on the fact that many Italians, understandably, took the view that the European Union did not stand in solidarity with them in terms of making supports and resources available, that makes it all the more extraordinary that resources for health, in particular, and a collective approach to health, have collapsed in this negotiation.

I take it that the Taoiseach is confirming finally - it was my third attempt - that the answer is "Yes", that the CAP is being cut by 9% in constant prices when compared with the previous seven-year MFF programme. The Taoiseach has answered that in the affirmative. I want to say for the record that it is a far cry from the approach he took earlier with my colleague, Deputy Carthy, whom he attempted to dismiss.

Ireland will be a net contributor to the package. What will be the amount of the additional contribution that the State will make? I have seen the calculation in terms of GNI, but, in cash terms, what will be the additional contribution from the State?

I am awaiting the specific calculations in the context of constant and current. I will not take heed of any figure that is thrown about. There was always a difference between current and constant. The important achievement with regard to the CAP is that we have protected the funding during this round. That is particularly important in light of the significant pressure in the context of getting an agreement to reduce the funding.

There is a health programme within the MFF. It is still there. What was proposed was a significant addition to the next generation fund the Commission had proposed. Ideologically, several states - they have been dubbed the frugal four - were against any grant-based approach being taken. This is an unprecedented package. Health is primarily a competency of member states. Europe does not have competency regarding the provision of health services within member states. There are certain rights and entitlements in this area. This issue was about the procurement of vaccines and similar matters, as well as joint approaches to which Ireland has already signed up. Ireland is involved in an EU-wide approach in respect of vaccine development and procurement in the context of Covid-19. The discussion involved states that were in favour of loans, rather than grants, being allocated to member states which are vulnerable as a result of Covid and which might need them.

The Deputy may remember that Chancellor Merkel and President Macron originally proposed a package of €500 billion. The Commission went way beyond that with a €750 billion package that is divided into grants and loans. That was the battleground for the summit. I fought strongly and intervened regularly to state that Ireland wanted the right package in the context of responding to the scale of the impact of the Covid crisis on the European economy. It was vital that an agreement was reached. The agreement reached is unprecedented in terms of the European Union collectively borrowing for the first time ever to respond to a global pandemic of this scale. That needs to be acknowledged. The 27 member states represented at the Council meeting had all sorts of competing interests. Several member states, including Ireland, took what I consider to be the correct line and stated that it is no longer about competing national interests but, rather, about doing the right thing for Europe as a collective.

Ireland exports to mainland Europe. European markets are vital to our agricultural industry and many SMEs and other companies, jobs and services. The Single Market has been very important to Ireland and our growth and development as an economy. Deputy Boyd Barrett may disagree that this is the case. He may not agree with the Single Market or the economic model that governs it, but the development of the European Union has had a very beneficial economic impact on Ireland from the 1970s onwards. That is the context in which member states argued over the agreement.

On the issues Deputies identified in the context of the net contributor status of Ireland, the country is now a net contributor to the MFF. The figures in that regard will have to be calculated because this latest package involved a higher number. I will get the exact figures for the Deputy. In fact, Ireland will now benefit in the context of the contribution to the fund in respect of the repayments that were to have been made until to 2058. We would have been paying far more if there were more grants, to be frank, although I did not see it through that prism. Rather, I saw it as a matter of engineering economic recovery in Europe and showing solidarity with other countries which, ultimately, will benefit Ireland. In key areas such as Brexit, the PEACE PLUS programme and the CAP, we preserved the essentials we went in with in the context of the MFF.

We are over the time allotted.

I need a point to be clarified.

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