Gabhaim buíochas ó chroí leis an gCathaoirleach, leis na Seanadóirí uilig atá i láthair um thráthnóna, agus le foireann iomlán an tSeanaid as an gcuireadh flaithiúil a thabhairt dúinn teacht os comhair an Tí. Is é seo an chéad uair domsa a bheith sa Teach seo ag labhairt os comhair na Seanadóirí. Is mór an pléisiúr agus an phribhléid dom a bheith anseo. I am delighted to be in the Senators' presence this afternoon. I thank them very much for this opportunity to speak to them.
The Seanad has a crucial role. It is critical to the legislative system. The Senators are the important súil eile, the other eye, the critical eye, that protects our citizens and enriches our democracy. Bunreacht na hÉireann in 1937 gave Senators their clear role in the legislative process, and their work ensures that citizens' concerns are articulated in our laws. This is a critical part of our democratic process. It is more critical than ever as the far right sweeps across Europe, sowing doubt and mistrust in our democratic institutions.
I have two stories for the Senators. Suígí siar. The first one is about P.J. Hickson, who is an SME retailer in Carlow. He is the kind of businessman that really breathes life into the urban and rural aspects of County Carlow. His business creates jobs, supports local teams and provides opportunities for hauliers and a raft of other businesses in small towns and villages that the Senators represent around Ireland. People like P.J. and his employees are the anchors of our communities, but today P.J. is thinking about red tape. To run his business he needs separate licences for wine, spirits, beer, tobacco, vapes, fuel, wild salmon, you name it. He needs 20, in fact. Each licence involves paperwork, inspections, costs and stress. He does not have the resources to deal with these, and that is even before he begins to deal with the HSE, Irish Water, the Workplace Relations Commission, the Health and Safety Authority and the Revenue Commissioners. Of course, these also have their forms and requirements. On top of it all, P.J. has to do the hardest thing of all, which is to make money so he can pay his staff, pay his way and serve customers.
My second story is about a Wexford farmer, John Roche. He has a medium-sized farm, of 55 ha, in south Wexford. He is well off, the neighbours say. They say he has nothing to worry about. Do you know what? He really does. He worries all the time. He grew up with eight siblings and none of them wanted to run the farm. They left him and went to college in Dublin and got good jobs. It was left up to him to transform the mixed enterprise on the farm into something viable. If he were still working the mixed enterprise farm, he would need licences for everything his parents did. Fast forward to today, what is John doing? He is milking 70 cows to make the farm viable. He has some calves – beef follow-ons. He sows grain to have a food source for the winter. He does it all on his own, leis féin. His income is way too low to pay for any help beyond his children, who are getting older. What youngster wants to be facing the challenges of farming? John is 68 and has no formal education. He inherited the farm only at the age of 56, when his dad passed away. He is too old to do anything else and he has not had time to follow a different career path. He works all day and at night goes inside to the kitchen table and faces all the red tape, an téip dhearg. Oh my God, tá ualach ann. There are mountains of it on the table. Tá sé tuirseach agus buartha. He is really anxious over form filling and looming deadlines. He has to employ a special adviser, who gets a cut of his basic income support for sustainability, agri-climate rural environment scheme and targeted agriculture modernisation scheme payments. His income has steadily reduced bliain i ndiaidh bliana. He wants to get out of farming but nobody wants to take over the farm.
These two stories are indicative of the culture that has been allowed to build up in the EU over many decades – a culture focused on regulation and that is smothering innovation. It is a culture that has determined that the delivery of housing and large-scale infrastructure is slow and problematic. Like me, the Senators know all about that only too well. The culture is one in which SMEs, farmers, tech and manufacturing companies and other sectors of European society have been burdened by decades of excessive regulation.
One of the first documents to cross my desk when I was elected was Mario Draghi's report on European competitiveness, which the Senators will all have heard about. It delivered a stark warning: Europe is struggling to compete because of heavy regulation. Across Europe, SMEs make up 99% of all businesses. They are engines of employment, innovation and local prosperity but they are being absolutely smothered. Meanwhile, businesses in rival economies are moving, innovating and scaling faster. Europe really needs to work for its people, not the other way around. Unfortunately, our people tend to see the EU as a far-off bureaucracy that exists to create unreasonable, unmanageable and unrealistic environmental laws predominantly, but also other laws. They do not hear about the successes of the EU, including a Single Market of 450 million people in which young people can work and do business in any one of the 27 member states, although not seamlessly, it has to be said.
The EU project has transformed Ireland from a wholly agri-based economy to a high-tech, globalised, powerhouse super-economy, ranking second in the EU for GDP per capita, with a figure of €81,200.
It is a project that has brought peace. I would hope that a key part of Ireland's Presidency of the Council later this year involves sharing the message of the success of Europe. I would hope that Ireland's Presidency of the EU can drive the competitiveness agenda so that farmers, small businesses and large-scale companies, all of whom we represent, can be built up and we can find our mojo of competitiveness again. The stakes could not be higher. Everybody has mentioned it here before me. We must have the confidence and courage to strip away the unnecessary red tape that has accumulated for decades.
Ireland's Presidency of the Council gives us a real chance to steer because the direction of Europe is at a critical moment. Ireland is good at presidencies and as has been said, we are trusted. Our reputation and influence go far beyond our size. What I would say to Members today is beirimis bua le chéile i rith na hUachtaránachta. Let us work together. Vive l'Europe, es lebe Europa, ar aghaidh leis an Eoraip agus Éire go brách.
