Politicians need to follow the example of the Irish soccer team and “throw off the shackles of the small island mentality” to deal critically with the EU.
Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy said it was time for the Government to end its "deference" to the EU, "the mindset that we're somehow subservient because of our size, our location, our level of indebtedness".
In the Dáil she warned we have to “start approaching the European Union in a confident [way] but with a critical eye”, particularly in relation to the controversial TTip (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) trade deal being negotiated between the US and EU.
Invoking the Irish soccer team, Ms Murphy said “last night on the football pitch we saw our team throw off the shackles of the small island mentality and because of their belief, it saw them through”.
She added: “We need to take a leaf out of that on to the political stage.” She hoped Ireland would take a critical position on the TTip trade agreement. “And if we’re the only ones to take that position we need to be brave and we need to stand over that position.”
TTip represented “a profound transfer of power and a fundamental change to the democratic process that once entered into, won’t be possible to reverse. It’s a tipping point.”
Ms Murphy warned of the potential costs of disputes under the deal, which “we need to be questioning, to look at the evidence of similar trade agreements that include dispute mechanisms such as the one in TTip.”
The Kildare North TD said one thing the UK referendum debate on Brexit highlighted was the growing disconnect between the institutions of the EU and ordinary citizens.
Uncritical view
She said Irish governments tend take an uncritical view of EU institutions, portraying them as “universally good which is at odds with the views of many citizens”.
Ms Murphy said “Irish people are not stupid and recognise that we are a small nation and we can’t survive on our own”.
But “they also see that we were left to carry the can for 41 per cent of the European banking crash and the crippling debt has not only been imposed on us but on our children and grandchildren if it goes unchallenged . . . Irish people can also see the current refugee crisis and the way people are being treated - and how that’s at odds with the founding principles of the European Union, one of which is human dignity.”
Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald agreed the debate in the UK "has thrown into very sharp relief the citizens' views on the EU, both for and against". She described the refugee crisis as very complex but said Ireland would have its full resettlement programme in place by September. She said TTip was being negotiated in a transparent way and there were benefits that "far outweigh the negatives" but "there is a long way to go".
There would be an Oireachtas debate at the “appropriate time” and the relevant committee would have further discussion. She stressed that in the deal existing regulation on environment, labour and food would be protected as would the right of the government to regulate.
