 Ladies and gentlemen, you're very welcome to our online address by Aunty Shook Meehole Martin TD, which opens the centrepiece week of the IIEA's 30th anniversary celebrations. My name is Catherine Day and I'm delighted to be chairing this webinar. I'm looking forward to the T-Shook's address on the important topic of Ireland in a changing European Union, and I'm also looking forward to hearing from the audience during our question and answer session. Today's event is the Brandon Halligan Memorial Lecture, honouring the IIEA's founder and president, Brandon Halligan, who sadly passed away last August. Our friends at the IIEA Brussels honoured Brandon earlier this year with the speech by Mary Robinson, and now it's our turn to do the same. Throughout May, the Institute has been hosting leading policymakers and taught leaders to celebrate the IIEA's role of informing public discourse on European and international affairs over the past 30 years. To commemorate Brandon's own legacy as a writer, thinker, politician and European, this year we launched the Brandon Halligan Emerging Scholar Essay Competition. I'm delighted to announce that the winner of the competition is Lisa Claire Whitten, who is a PhD student at Queen's University Belfast. Lisa's essay reflected on Northern Ireland, contrasting its peripheral status at the moment of EU accession in 1973, with its central position in the Brexit debate at the moment of the UK's withdrawal. Her essay will be published on the Institute's website in due course, and I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate Lisa Claire on behalf of the IIEA board and team. Now before we get into today's topic in just a few minutes, I will run through the format and the usual housekeeping rules. The Taoiseach will speak to us for about 20 minutes on the key priorities for Ireland within the European Union and for the European Union on the world stage as a global actor. We will then go into questions and answers with our audience. I'm sure you're familiar with how this works by now. You can put questions using Zoom's dedicated Q&A function, which you should see on your screen, but so that we can keep all the questions coming into one place. We ask that you do use the Q&A function and not the chance to please. Today's session, both the Taoiseach's initial speech and the Q&A that follows will be fully on the record. Finally, if you're watching today and want to join the discussion on Twitter, you're always welcome to do so, and we encourage you to use the hashtag IIEA 30. And now it is my honour to invite on Taoiseach Mihoel Martin to deliver the Brandon Halligan Moab lecture. Taoiseach, thank you for accepting our invitation to celebrate with us and to look ahead to the next 30 minutes. We're always very pleased to hear your address. Thank you very much indeed, and Catherine, I want to thank you and indeed Rory for your kind invitation and welcome to today's event. I also want to congratulate Michael and everyone at the IIEA for putting together an exceptional week of events to mark 30 years of what is unquestionably Ireland's leading think tank. This week's events are a great tribute to your work, but also to the memory of the Institute's founder and guiding light, Brendan Halligan. Through his long and impressive involvement in party politics, Brendan was always passionate and would never have wanted to be called ecumenical. However, in this Institute, he founded something which is still unique in Ireland, a place dedicated to reaching a cross-party divide through rigorous research and challenging debate. The IIEA stands out in a country where too many policy debates go straight to the political fight without seeking perspective and reflection. And critically, it has provided an essential forum for engaging with fundamental challenges in European and wider international affairs. The Institute's work on climate, energy, security, trade and other areas is vital for our country. At a moment in world history where populism and disinformation have become deeply corrosive, we need expert and independent forums for exploring and debating critical issues. After 30 years, there is no doubt that the IIEA is not only still relevant, it is more important than ever, and there is much to be learned from your approach. The Institute was founded during a dramatic period of development in the role and ambition of what was becoming the European Union. Under the visionary leadership of Jacques Delors, a new agenda was developed to reinvigorate Europe. It was understood that something had to be done to renew a model of cooperation which too often was leading to deadlock. Equally, Europe was failing to fulfil anywhere near its potential for shared progress and development. For Ireland, the way forward at that time was absolutely clear. We needed the single market to be more complete to enable us to trade and attract investment. In the same way, Economic and Monetary Union was an opportunity for us to secure our place and influence within a much larger economic context. And of course, the cohesion agenda would enable us to build a knowledge-intensive economy and begin the rapid development of our infrastructure. The decisions we took at that time, the faith which we reaffirmed in our European future, opened up a new era of development in Ireland. I am absolutely clear in saying our country faces serious challenges today, which it must overcome. However, no one can argue against the fact that our country has achieved real and sustained progress because of the reforms of the European Union which we supported 30 years ago. When Sean Lamass put our country on course from membership of what is today the European Union, he understood very well the risks that were involved. As far back as the 1920s, he had read discussions about how a Europe united in a strong multinational organization was needed for peace and prosperity. And part of this was the concern that Ireland was just too poor and too peripheral to participate. However, he believed that this concern was wrong, that Ireland could change the path of its history. Lamass began his public career as a teenager fighting in the rising, ended it 50 years later, pushing for Ireland to join the great cause of European cooperation. And so it was that Ireland's European story became unique in a very important way. We are similar to many other states and that we were founded by nationalist revolutionaries after the First World War. But we are different in that these same revolutionaries went on to seek to secure the benefits of this independence through participation in the strong rules-based community of European nations. The key events of our membership of the European Union are well known, so too is an undeniable fact. Had we not joined the Union, we would be a significantly poorer, more isolated and more divided country. The Union is the greatest enabler of peace and progress in the history of Europe. But talking about past achievements is not enough when the Union is facing rising and unprecedented challenges. And in Ireland, this means we have to understand that we are right to celebrate the historic progress of the last 50 years, but our primary focus has to be on shaping the future. We cannot assume that attitudes and policies developed to meet the challenges of previous decades are still relevant. Our progress in the European Union was based on being willing to look at hard realities, take risks and embrace new approaches. We did this when we decided to join. We did this when we supported the single market and the Euro. And we did this when we championed the expansion of the Union. And I believe we must again renew our approach as both Ireland and Europe seek to meet new challenges and address clear gaps in the workings of our shared Union. The process of renewing and reforming the Union needs an urgency and ambition which Ireland must help to shape. The last decade and a half has been turbulent for the European Union. The Great Recession, exposed weaknesses and structure and rising forces of destructive nationalism have confronted it. The question for us is, will we play our role in helping the Union to regain its confidence and to show a new energy? Our guiding principle must be a simple one. A successful Ireland needs a successful European Union. And the truth is that events of recent years have shown that we cannot take this success for granted. I believe we need a renewed urgency in our approach to Europe and to move on to a more active agenda. I want to address this by looking at four specific dimensions of how we can do this. Specifically, expanding the European Union's role, protecting the European Union's core principles, enabling a new relationship with the United Kingdom and being more active on European Union matters in our own national politics. Last week the government launched a programme of engagement with the Conference on the Future of Europe. Underpinning this is our support of the idea that we must have an honest and inclusive discussion about where the Union goes to from here. Minister Thomas Bourne is leading this process and every member of government would be engaged with it. I would strongly urge everyone with views on the future of Europe and Ireland's role within it to participate in these consultations. For many years, one of the great problems faced by the Union is that people have placed expectations on it without giving it the resources or laws to achieve them. The Union itself has also often fallen for the trap of what psychologists call the law of the instrument, which is when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And in the specific context of the Union, this has led to a focus on a very limited range of economic and fiscal controls. This is why so often we have a very narrow debate. We saw this in the early years of the financial crisis when the entire focus was on a very inflexible approach. The dramatic policy changes of 2011 and 2012 were only reached when every other approach had failed. I believe that one of the biggest changes we need to make is to restore the position of the European Union as a direct enabler of growth. And part of this is the need for a larger fiscal capacity. And this is why last year, with the support of the government, I put forward a position at the European Council, which was strongly in favour of expanding the European Union's budget, as well as creating a special Covid recovery fund. Now, this was in spite of the fact that Ireland is now a net contributor to the Union. When it comes to helping countries and regions to develop or to get through an economic shock, we need the Union to do more. Equally, we needed to have greater resources to help us all overcome critical challenges. We need the Union to be the enabler of much more aggressive innovation in tackling climate change and delivering energy security. This is an existential crisis which no one country can overcome by itself. Only by unleashing the full potential of researchers and innovators throughout Europe can we step change outcomes. I believe that the terrible pandemic, which we have experienced over the past 14 months, has again shown how countries need each other. And I believe that the case for significantly increasing the public health competencies of the European Union is stronger than it has ever been. A stronger European Centre for Disease Control is needed as an essential guidance for countries in reacting rapidly to developments and guiding critically common decisions. We have to make the decision-making procedures faster and more comprehensive. While there have been many adverse comments, the fact is that cooperation on vaccine ordering and manufacturing has been a tremendous success for the European Union. It has demonstrated solidarity and it has saved lives within Europe and indeed across the wider world. Already 200 million doses of European manufactured vaccines have been administered in Europe and 200 million doses of European manufactured vaccines have been administered in the rest of the world. Ireland and nearly every other European country could have had no guarantee of access to these vaccines outside of the European Union-led cooperation. And let's not miss the fact that no other major vaccine producer in the world has exported a significant number of vaccines. The United Kingdom and the US have exported almost nothing in comparison to Europe. Others have exported minor amounts and often with geopolitics rather than public health as the main focus. There's no doubt that at times the European Union has not been the most effective communicator on this matter, but it is substance, not spin, that matters. We have every right to be proud of and thankful to the European Union for its work in fighting the virus and distributing the vaccines which are helping us to restore hope. Public health challenges are likely to be just as difficult in the future. And the European Union with a greater leadership role in this field and the required resources is absolutely vital. In looking for ways of expanding the role and capacities of the Union, we need to be careful of ideas which are not soundly based. I very much support the idea of the European Union developing greater strategic autonomy. However, we have to be careful as we move forward towards determining what this means in practice. True European champions will come from supporting innovation rather than artificial controls or preferences. Wherever you look in the world, the models which offer us the biggest opportunity have been based on the active promotion of cutting-edge research, a positive approach to start-ups, and a consistent investment in skills. The wonderful example of BioNTech is one which shows us the way forward. A company founded by researchers from an immigrant background, BioNTech received direct funding, research funding, and subsidized loans from the European Union and national schemes. The vaccine which they have developed with this assistance is a triumph of modern science, and it is the most important vaccine helping Ireland and others to get through this pandemic. And that is exactly the type of European champion we need more of. Last week's European Union leaders took an important decision at our social summit in Porto to reinforce our collective commitment to the social dimension of the Union. The Porto Declaration makes clear that our shared European ideal is first and foremost about improving the lives of our citizens, guided by the political compass of our social pillar. It makes clear that the European Union as a community of values is much more than simply a marketplace. The concrete employment, skills and poverty reduction targets to be achieved by 2030 provide the right political emphasis for underpinning a strong and sustainable post-pandemic recovery. This means a recovery that is deeply rooted in equipping men, women, young, old, people with disabilities, those rural and urban, people with the skills and capabilities for food participation in economic and social life. It marks an important milestone in setting a progressive European Union agenda for the decade ahead. I believe that a European Union, in part with greater resources and critical new competencies in areas such as public health and climate change, can ensure that Europe remains a strong, dynamic and prosperous community of nations. However, we must also understand that there is work to be done to protect the core principles which underpin the European Union. Both within the Union and internationally, there are forces which oppose the idea of countries being subject to agreed rules, including the protection of democracy and human rights. In the last century, the European Union ended centuries of conflict and division on the basis of states agreeing shared values. These can no longer be taken for granted. Where once people talked of the triumph of liberal democracy, in recent years people have begun to write about the retreat of democracy. The brilliant and provocative political scientist Ivan Krastev, a man profoundly committed to democratic ideals, has gone as far as to ask if we have gone from the end of history to the end of Europe. Ireland cannot stand on the sidelines. We are a democratic republic. Our constitution commits us to the ideal of international cooperation and asserts our support for the principles enshrined in the European treaties. We must work with others who share these beliefs. I strongly support the new commitment to multilateralism and democracy which we've discussed with President Joe Biden. Just as he is bringing a new beginning to the relationship between the United States and the wider world, we must work with him and with each other in the cause of defending democracy. Last Friday, I stressed to Prime Minister Johnson how Ireland wants to help rebuild a constructive and sustainable relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom. The referendum, together with the decades of anti-European union rhetoric which preceded it, and the drawn out negotiations which followed caused damage which cannot be undone. As I've said many times before, Brexit is a major step backwards and there is no upside to it. However, it is now a reality and we must do whatever we can to limit the scale of its negative impact. The trade and cooperation agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom, taken together with the withdrawal agreement including the protocol on Northern Ireland, represent the best possible outcome in the circumstances. There is no useful purpose served in keeping the debate about Brexit going. If we want what is best for us all, then we need to retire this dispute and focus on the full and effective implementation of what has been agreed. We need good faith and cooperation and we need to understand that the first reflex when there is a problem should be to seek engagement, not to promote a dispute. It should, however, be acknowledged that this relationship can never be the same as the relationship between EU member states, however hard we work on making it the best it can be. Tomorrow you will hear from both Bertie, Aaron and Tony Blair in a reminder of just how much can be achieved by the Dublin and London governments when we work closely together. But they achieve together for our country's wants and remains historic. And that was a partnership which they insisted was reflected in every part of their governments. I particularly remember how it was agreed that disputes of which there were many were to be dealt with in a spirit of open discussion and good faith. The absence of the joint context of the European Union is a major challenge and one which we are working to address. In addition to the economic consequences and the implications for Northern Ireland with the UK's departure, Ireland has lost an important partner in the European Union with whom we collaborated on many issues. The need for Ireland now to build alliances with member states across the European Union has never been more evident. We have strengthened across the Union in order to broaden and deepen our contacts with partners. This includes a new approach to engaging with countries of different sizes and with different priorities. Fundamentally, we are in a period where the future direction and success of the European Union is at stake. We need to be honest and admit that we have often failed to treat European Union issues with urgency within our politics. Given just how central a successful European Union is to prosperity and progress in our country, this has to change. Those of us who believe in the ideals of the Union have to be aware that Euroscepticism is a very real part of Irish politics, but it is too rarely confronted. In country after country we can see what happens when anti-European Union sentiment is allowed to go unchallenged. A significant proportion of our representation in the European Parliament constantly attacks the Union as an elite conspiracy against the people. Parties who opposed Irish membership of the Union, who fought against every treaty change and blamed the Union for everything, have an agenda which is shared with anti-EU parties throughout Europe. The greatest mistake made in the United Kingdom was the casual assumption that it was only so far the anti-EU forces would go and that economic reality would always stand in their way. The basic Eurosceptic populism which drove the anti-EU campaign was ignored for too long and not enough was done to challenge them. We can't make that mistake here just because we are in a period where public appreciation of the European Union is very high. We have to make our case of how central the European Union is not just to our past development but to our future progress. We have to call out those who promote populist attacks on the Union, but pretend that they aren't actually anti-EU. And we have to make public engagement on EU matters a permanent part of how we talk about issues. Part of this is that we have to help the public to separate the signal from the noise. This can only be done through investing in transparent evidence-based discussion. And often this is about mapping out not just the grey area but the rainbow of opinion that legitimately sit between black and white on complex EU issues. Because the price of misinformation and disinformation and reductivist debates are incredibly high. Just last week I participated in the latest Christchurch call, a movement set up by Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and President Emmanuel Macron in the wake of the terrorist attacks on two mosques in New Zealand. The immediate focus of the call is to remove violent extremist and terrorist content. But the longer term work is for a free, open and secure internet. Not one awash with automated misinformation that leads to radicalization and incitement of violence in the first place and built with algorithms that narrow opinions and lead people into cul-de-sac worldviews. And that is why investing in informed and transparent public discourse will remain a priority for me. Whether that is through the citizens' assemblies, the dialogues of the shared island initiative, or over the coming period through the conference on the future of Europe events. After a period where people begin to question the very foundations of the European Union, self-confidence is beginning to return. This brings with it an opportunity to reshape our future direction, an opportunity which we cannot afford to squander. Ireland's membership of the European Union has been an incredibly positive chapter in our history. However, this must evolve. We must understand that the challenges of today are very different to those we faced in the past. We need to help the Union to develop new competencies to focus on the critical needs of Europe today and to ensure that it has resources to make a difference. We have to be active in defending the principles of multilateral cooperation and the values of democracy when they're facing increasing threats. We have to help rebuild the critical relationship with the United Kingdom, which has been so profoundly changed in recent years. And we have to understand that Europe is too important to be an afterthought in our politics. It has to gain a greater prominence and we need an ongoing engagement with our people. The European Union is a remarkable example of how peace and prosperity can be won through cooperation. It helped Europe to rebuild after a catastrophic series of conflicts, and it helped the United States on the basis of shared interests and values. Over nearly 50 years of membership, Ireland has changed dramatically, and equally, the European Union has changed dramatically. There have been key moments when fundamental decisions have been required in order to renew and energize the Union. This is another one of those moments, and it falls to Ireland to speak up and work for a European Union, which preserves its values and builds on its great achievements. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you so much. That was a fantastic tour of a huge range of issues. You covered role, the future role, and the competences of the EU, its values. You put that area of treatment, but I think also hinted at areas for Ireland that are different from those of some other states. And all of that is going to go into a terrific mix of discussions on where is the EU headed next in the coming months. Now, as you might expect from covering such a range of topics, we have lots of questions coming in, and I'm going to go straight to them. First one comes from Audron Reid. He says, Tisha, you're clearly a committed European. Do you believe Ireland should be at the centre of the debate on the future of the EU, driving forward institutional change and further integration? Much of what we have now has been influenced by our departed neighbour, and the institutions now need to address future challenges. In short, yes, I think we should be open to further changes, and I think the conference on the future of Europe gives us an opportunity to be leaders in this debate. I've identified the public health area, obviously in the context of the pandemic, as one where we should take this opportunity and learn lessons from the pandemic in terms of a stronger European competency. I've been a former Minister for Health, and I can contrast our position back during SARS when I was Minister for Health in 2003, and the contrast is quite dramatic actually. At that stage in 2003, we were nowhere near collaboration with industry that would produce vaccines in 12 months. There was no agreements, pre-portures or anything like that. And to be honest, at times during SARS, there was a lot of scrambling to try and get a cohesive approach across Europe, whereas on this occasion, notwithstanding all of the difficulties and challenges, I think the pre-portures agreements, the engagement has been effective in producing quite a number of safe vaccines in a very short space of time, which many people didn't think was possible at the outset of the pandemic. Now, what's interesting is the Commission and Europe isn't, you know, hanging back. It now has developed the HERO initiative, the HERO, HGRA for my pronunciation. Basically, which is a collaboration involving biotech companies, the manufacturers in Europe to say, OK, what are the new challenges with this pandemic? The variants, for example, teenagers and children. And therefore we need to continue the manufacturing of vaccines, the ordering of them, but also the authorization process within Europe needs to be addressed. And that work is now well underway. And you saw that recently manifested in the ordering of hundreds and hundreds of millions of vaccines for 2022, 2023, but critically, better research. So based on mRNA vaccines and protein vaccines that have the capacity to be adjusted quickly. And then Europe acknowledges this authorization processes could be quicker in the context of variants. So yes, as the answer in short, I did instance also the own resources decision we took are the decisions that we would collectively borrow in general. That was a very hot meeting. And it was interesting from our perspective that Ireland being a net contributor was up against all the net contributors. On behalf of countries that were going to receive an awful lot more than I actually was kind of a big shift from where historically we would have been within the union. But we have to convert our own public that if you looked as well, Ireland is an open economy exporting will do very well as well. Thank you. Next question from Tony Brown who's a founding member of the Institute. Can you reference the Porto social summit of last week Tony's question is, can the Porto social commitment succeed where past statements have promised more than they could achieve. Interestingly, at the meeting last week at the informal console last week, there was quite a number of contributions from prime ministers on the follow through after Porto and what instruments or mechanisms of the semester mechanism will be used. Can we achieve concrete outcomes from the declaration of principles. And I think there was a large consensus on some of the key issues child poverty, for example, and education and achievement, school completion, progression of the further and further education hold skills agenda for young people, particularly in post pandemic environment. So I do get the sense that there will be a strong focus on follow through from the declaration that we put me on the bone of the targets. Thank you. Thank you. And who knows maybe the departure of the UK, which was notoriously reluctant on this topic may even have some positive effect. And next question from Professor John Brennan of menuse. He references the Good Friday agreement and his question relates to Bosnia. As given Ireland's unique sense of ability around conflict. Does the teacher could agree that the integration of the Western Balkans including Bosnia with the EU is an urgent necessity, and that Ireland should do everything possible to assist Bosnia and other states in the western move closer to the European Union. And I think we always should, in a humble way, and apply the learnings that we have garnered over the years from our own peace process to other situations. And we are supportive of that integration of the Western Balkans into the European Union and to progress that. And it's interesting, even in the context of the pandemic, that Europe was very conscious of its neighborhood and almost looked at it as part, you know, in terms of making sure that vaccines could get distributed and so on. That's just a small manifestation of I think what is what is the overall approach and we I think we should be proactive in that regard. Thank you very much, Tatech. Now, a question from a former colleague of yours, Prince Sirosa, why has treaty change been ruled out by Ireland. It's not been ruled out. I know there's been various communications on that and I spoke to the two leaders within the government. The two leaders are clear that we have to be open to potentially treaty change. Obviously there is the desire and the context of the future of the Conference of Europe that we also discussed and issues. Sorry, that we will discuss utilizing the existing potential within the existing treaties for the citizens, and that we don't get bottomed on too much technocratic or legal rules. And so the handle, you know, I've made it clear that we have to be open to treaty change, and we can close that door, and not withstanding the challenges it presents, but so I just want to make that clear and that's, that's something that the three leaders have agreed on within the government that we are open to treaty change. Moving then to a question from a chain tandem of Trinity College. How can Ireland play a positive calm head role in protocol negotiations, but also not create criticism of siding with the UK. That's that's what I thought we were doing. Yeah, I think Cam is a very, very important word to be saying in this context. And I think we have to retain this at the level of trade and the technical issues around trade. It's not an issue of identity. It's not an issue of sovereignty in the context of the good Friday agreement. Doesn't interfere with the principle of consent. And I think our strong view and in our discussions with the UK government has been that there is a process there within the withdrawal agreement through the joint committees and through discussions to refine and to resolve any issues that have arisen as a result of the operation of the protocol. And I know that Maris Sefka which is adopting a very constructive role in his discussions with David trust and indeed the European Union is and I stress that again, the close of this week to British Prime Minister that Europe is not in this participant discussions, would it do to try and punish the UK or anything like that but rather it's solution. It's in solution mode Europe is a question and trying to resolve this issue. And so as Ireland, it is fundamentally an EU UK process, but Ireland has, you know, certainly made the EU aware of the sensitivities around this. I can also put forward helpful suggestions and ideas as to how these issues can be resolved and I believe in a practical way, you know, and walking together on this PS for example, as a really good dividend in terms of practical outcomes of these discussions but we do have to keep this at the right level. It's interesting as well that there are other positives around the protocol that don't get articulated. In terms of the impact for Ulster families, for example, in terms of their military coming into co-ops in the Republic and so on and the protocol facilitates that in a seamless way, which is very valuable for the dairy industry on the island in terms of the movement of product and so on north itself. And I get the sense that a lot of middle ground opinion in the north, particularly in business and in agriculture, you know, get the sense of the protocol but obviously don't want to put it above the parapet in the context of the politics of all of this. So we do need to diffuse this, we need to kind of keep it calm and work through it and there are processes to work through this and to make it a sensible arrangement for all concerned. Thank you T-shirt again at Brexit obviously getting rise to quite a number of questions, we'll take one more and then I'll move on. This one is from Porick Halpin of Reuters. He says RTE reported this morning that the Irish government is now concerned that London is pushing for a complete rewriting of the Northern Ireland protocol beyond simply bringing flexibilities to bear. Can the T-shirt confirm if this is the case? Obviously we discussed this in fact I can't, my view, what we agreed on Friday was that we would continue to work through the European Union UK process. There was no formal agreement at the end of the meeting was an exploratory meeting but essentially the guts of this was and we put forward the case that there's a process there between the European Union and the United Kingdom that should be followed and as I said we'll be helpful in terms of suggestions and ideas, but we were very clear and are very clear that this is an international agreement and commitments have been made and people have signed up to it and it needs to be worked and it needs to be and the processes and mechanisms that are contained within it need to be worked also, but that wasn't our immediate sense coming from the meeting. Thank you T-shirt, on a different topic now a question from Ann Barrington. She says as we grapple with the housing crisis here, one of the issues that continues to be raised is that EU state aid rules hinder member states from supporting social and affordable housing. This is of course not the case as housing falls within services of general economic interest. However, could the conference on the future of Europe be a means by which Ireland could make this work to make this explicit? We could and in fact in terms of some of our affordable housing schemes that have gone to the commission to seek clearance and clarity and all of that but that has come to you know but that process has happened and one is always mindful of state aid rules so certainly the conference for Europe does represent an opportunity to get greater clarity around that particularly in terms of meeting social objectives in relation to key social policy areas and housing is obviously the number one crisis facing the country generationally we have to do everything we possibly can to get supply of houses up. We're just not simply building enough houses at the moment in Ireland and haven't been for quite some time. And so we have to across a range of initiatives and a range of fronts social affordable with the state now being the key actor at the moment in terms of the provision of funding for housing we need to get supply increased and that that is our agenda. Thank you T-shirt next to question from Thomas Conway who's a student in Trinity College. He says that you can emphasize the importance of developing greater fiscal capacity to you level. And he is wondering if you could offer some advice. Okay the question is jumping. If you could offer some advice on how the EU can expand its fiscal capacity without infringing on autonomy of member states particularly in terms of corporate tax policy. The EU has already put forward a number of areas and in fact recently in terms of in terms of the area of own resources in terms of plastic levees and so forth and ETS mechanisms in the context of the decision taken last July. And now quite a number of those have to be fleshed out yet and but they are being developed and the in terms of the wider issue of of of cooperation tax the OECD is now right now the favorite forum for seeking to reach a global agreement in terms of the corporate tax corporate tax regime across the world. Obviously that will fall to get discussed at European level at some stage there has been debate within the European Union around digital the digital area in the digital space which we're engaging in and those discussions are ongoing and will be for quite some time. But the overall point I was making and that is why we contributed so strongly in July to the recovery next generation European fund to build rebuild Europe in the aftermath of the pandemic. Because we're a small open economy we will benefit if you're being economies benefit if you know other countries really develop and we will do well in that scenario. And but that will need on the pinning by own resources the borrowing will need to be met with generation of own resources and the Commission is coming forward. Short of cooperation tax and all of that but it's coming forward with a number of mechanisms to raise funding at a European level and I think that is important and we're going to be constructive contributor to that. The issue of own resources has been brewing for a very long time but maybe the time has now come to to give the answer. And the sugar question from Bobby McDonough. Should Ireland consider some flexibility as regards the unanimity provisions on foreign policy on the one hand it's very sensitive. On the other if the EU is to take care cut positions for example on the Gaza crisis something needs to change. Those but I mean they're in if you highlight the Gaza context you could get certain countries boxed into a situation that it would be very uncomfortable with in terms of whatever majority position would emerge. And you know as a former Minister for Foreign Affairs I remember at the time of the then war in Gaza in 2009 I would have taken a position that would have not been the majority position within the European Council at the time when I spoke out against what was happening within Gaza. And so it is a very sensitive area and I think there in fairness there is a lot of genuine engagement on the issues. Very often Europe doesn't present itself as strongly as it should. So for example, you know, even an all domestic parliament people keep attacking Europe has not been strong in support of Palestinians, for example, whereas Europe is probably one of the strongest funders and supporters of one right. And has been the most consistent supporter of one and I visited the education facilities in Gaza, which are supported by that funding and by Irish funding and Europe has a role to play in terms of conflict resolution. So we condemn the rockets from Hamas. But equally, I think we have to be strong in terms of the disproportionate in my view disproportionate response of the Israeli government and the world is appalled at the deaths of so many innocence of children and civilians. And that is something that the European Union, in my view, needs to have a stronger leverage in terms of trying to get a more balanced approach to this and we need we've called for an end conflict. We are on the Security Council were very clear that hostilities should cease. And in my view, the world is looking on appalled. And it's a very sensitive area in certain countries will want to reserve for themselves some degree of nuance or approach in terms of how articulate on these issues on the fundamental policy instruments. And there was a lot of consensus in terms of doing the right thing and supporting a particularly relief organizations education organizations in very difficult conflict conflict situations like this. Thank you to you covered a huge amount of ground in your address and our audience is covering similarly a huge amount of ground in the questions. We have to hear on the area of the digital economy. Liam Roach asks does the teacher agree that we need more EU integration for example in health and cybersecurity and chambers Allen who's an IEA researcher asks does the teacher have views on the European emphasis on prioritizing digital policy and its emphasis on digital sovereignty. First of all, I do support. Stronger digital integration. First of all, I think the two key principles that emerge from the recovery fund and the very clear prioritization of digital transition and green economy is the correct strategy. The recovery and resilience fund application will reflect those two key themes. And in terms of health in particular. It's been a weaker area for Ireland in terms of the digital transformation of our health services. But as improving in recent times and in fact in our recovery resilience fund application, we will be highlighting the need and seeking funding, in addition to our own domestic funding to accelerate the digital transformation of our health service that's been going on and have been for the last 10 months as a teacher to try and drive that particular agenda and the work of the Minister for Health and the HSE and that respect and as I said across Europe. I think traditionally and historically there's been a reluctance to allow Europe move into the health space too much. I can recall being a health minister when officials even in my own department back then would be horrified at the prospect of we open up the borders and held to fearing sort of impossible burdens and health services and I think that was all in my view in retrospect and in hindsight over alarmist. And I think there's an awful lot to be gained from a greater integration in health with obviously common sense of superiority applying, but on the big macro pictures of public health. There is no argument in my view and I would feel that there's a greater need for science health science research public health at European level needs to be more joined up than it currently is that's my view. And I think that the Commission is moving that direction. I've had discussions with ourselves on the line on this point. And I would be a very strong advocate for this. I mean, even within the context of authorization of vaccines we have a year, yet it goes back to each national authorization body. And that could be improved. In terms of the efficiency of how Europe operates medicine authorization vaccine authorizations. And that's something I would be very keen on in terms of cybersecurity. This is one of the areas where we absolutely need a European Union approach, a collaborative collaboration approach. And I have to say we've been very grateful to our partners in Europe and indeed in the United Kingdom, who are helping and who are offering assistance as we face the current threat and attack on our national health service. And then these are ruthless criminals who are undermining our people and our patients through access to health services. And there's been a very gratifying international support, particularly across Europe in terms of this attack. And there's no question that these are the type of strategic vulnerabilities that all member states face that can only be more robustly more robustly taken on on a collective basis. In fact, it's often the case that we find the political will to move forward as a European Union faster in times of crisis than at other times. That's absolutely true. T-shirt back to the UK again. Professor John O'Hagan from Trinity asks, do you think T-shirt that Ireland and the EU should stay totally out of any future Scottish independence referendum, including making any comments on fast track EU membership for Scotland. Should the referendum vote be carried. That's a fair point. I think, you know, in democracies and in the world, people are entitled to express opinions and articulate perspectives, but yes, I think it's fundamentally a matter now for the Scottish people or indeed for the United Kingdom as a whole to decide on those issues. And what's interesting is, if against the grain of your question, I just offered a viewpoint, Brexit has created new debates, has affected the relationships within the United Kingdom itself, and that's interesting in terms of the Scottish-London relationship. So it would be interesting to see how it unfolds. But I don't think the European Union should get embroiled in it. It doesn't need to get embroiled in it. And sometimes the whole Irish channel could just being barely the host, you know, sometimes silence can be golden. Thank you, T-shirt. Question from Pat Lee of the Irish Times. How concerned is the T-shirt about the growing movement in unionism against the protocol? Does the Irish, how does the Irish government respond? Well, I think it is a concern in terms of the, as I said earlier, this elevation of the protocol beyond what it essentially is in terms of trade and a technical trade arrangement. And as I say, in our view, and we're strongly out of view that this is an agreement that has been signed up to by the UK government. And it needs to honour that agreement with all of us, but we're all available and there to work the process that has been made on by that agreement, which John committees and there's a process there between the EU and the UK. Our objective is to work hard to resolve and refine any of the issues that have emerged. But it is our view that the protocol and the withdrawal agreement represents the best outcome overall in terms of the future of the island and particularly Northern Ireland in the context of continuing to have access to the European market, which I think from a foreign direct investment perspective and for some key sectors would be very advantageous. And also then we have to facilitate smooth, obviously movement of goods from the UK to Northern Ireland as well. I think that that is accepted. And I think the issue now is the mechanism by which we resolve this. And thank you again T-shirt question this time from Michael Collins who's the director general of the Institute with the UK gone. Who are Ireland's most like minded in the EU. In other words, who are our natural allies. Sometimes it depends on the issue. So it was interesting, you know, this whole issue of export controls. Some of those was with some pharmaceutical industries had very clear views on this but also with strong sort of views around open trade and free trade that we were negative about the idea of export control. So Belgium, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands and others were close allies on that. And more broadly speaking, you know, I think we're very often can depend on the issues. There's, you know, as I said, normally countries that we would have agreement with. We would have disagreed with in July in terms of the amount of money for the next generation fund. So I think we have to work consistently across all member states. And I want to develop a strong relationship with all Prime Ministers. There are some that countries where we, you know, on the climate we've a very strong alliance with quite a number of like minded countries who want to be ambitious for climate. So that would be a very challenging debate at the next EU council meeting. The last EU council meeting of that December took 23 hours to get resolution on climate and obviously Poland, Hungary and others had big issues and that was at the principles level, at the level of principles, right, as opposed to burden sharing or the more tarnier, tarnier issues of who gets to do what or who gets certain exemptions and so on, which all has to happen. So that may not give my complete answer related to that, but I think there has to be a flexibility and there has to be an open approach based on the issues as they emerge. There are some natural ones that are there already. Thank you for your work. Again, a different topic for a question from Anna Doyle. How does a teacher can visit using our position in the EU to foster greater use of the Irish language at home and throughout Europe in order to reinforce our identity and to seize this opportunity to promote our native language on a European and a global platform. I think we need to do more on that and including myself and I think we need to strategically look at how best we can ourselves articulate using the Irish language but also reflecting it back. I think what's interesting is the number of people who know progressing to a career in Europe through the Irish language is growing and that in itself will create its own momentum. In terms of how we, if you like, use this new opportunity, new platform to improve and enhance the status of the Irish language and reflect it back to the domestic use of the Irish language. And that could reflect itself in terms of debates within our grade school and within our schools relating to European affairs and European matters. And I think there's a bit more work for us strategically to do in terms of how we can use the new status within the European Union that the Irish language now enjoys back into the domestic policy. Tisha, the next question comes from Professor Porik Kenna of NUI Goldway. Do you see a much more central role for the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in the functioning of the EU institutions now that the UK has left the Union? I do, but there are other challenges in terms of the application of that Charter and other countries may have, as we know, different perspectives, but I do actually see opportunities for that Charter in terms of its application. There is also, you know, growing debate within Europe or concerns within Europe in terms of, as I said earlier in my speech about a retreat from democracy and basic values in terms of the free media, freedom of speech, greater control has been exerted by certain countries in certain states. That's an ongoing concern for us all. And, you know, sometimes the UK unnecessarily in my view, sorry, not always rightly gets a bad press in some respects of this, but pretty often the United Kingdom has been a strong advocate for quite fundamental values in terms of human rights and issues as well to be fair. And I think we have, within the existing EU member state composition, we have challenges ahead from what a member says. T-shirt back to Unionism and UK again. Mary C Murphy from UCC asks, the Irish government's relationship with Unionism has been a casualty of Brexit. How does the government propose to fix its relationship with Unionism and to cultivate constructive relations with new Unionist leaders? And then a not unrelated question from Paul Kilgarov, the leading of the UK has left Ireland from what isolated in the geographical sense, what measures or policies can Ireland put in place to become more integrated with mainland Europe? And he suggests with the question mark join the Schengen area. Three things. First of all, in terms of Unionism, just we're going to continue engaging and there will be challenges and clearly the protocol presents the challenge in the current context, but we will not stop being an open door to all opinion in Ireland and to Unionism in particular. And the shared island initiative is very much a part of that to create a new dialogue on the island, irrespective of one's constitutional preferences to deal with issues like climate change, energy, research, a whole range of areas that we can work together on. And part of our discussions on Friday with the British Prime Minister was to even add an East-West dimension to some of that, particularly in the context of research, for example, and to see can we and that's kind of what we're working on. And just to digress a bit in terms of the Friday meeting really originally was scheduled to deal with the post-Brexit-British-Irish relationship and how we can develop that. Since the EU structures that was the framework for a relationship as it developed over the last 50 years, so we have to work at seeing how we can strengthen and consolidate the British-Irish relationship in a post-Brexit situation. Now part of that means we have to work consistently towards an EU-UK relationship that is sustained and constructive and that's the point we've made to the United Kingdom and to Europe. And there can be a tendency, there could be a tendency for petty disputes being elevated to domestic political consumption and that's something that needs to be avoided because there is a very real need for the UK and the EU to have a constructive sustained relationship into the future. And that allies and aligns itself, sorry, with the new emphasis from the United States which wants a new refreshed transatlantic partnership and that has to be with Europe and the UK because they're very similar shared values in relation to that. And in terms of, there is a fair question which we need to take time to reflect on in terms of the Schengen issue, we worked hard to maintain the common travel area, but we will reflect on all of that. And we are, we strengthened our footprint in Europe when I said our diplomatic footprint within Europe and will continue to do that and the level of engagement both within member states and indeed at the primary as well. So that, and that will mean, you know, that will have to continue, sorry, to be expanded into the future. The other issue, sorry, the other issue is going to say is the initiative we launched about two weeks ago, Mr. Simon Coveney and Mr. Thomas Burn in relation to working strategically to increase the level and numbers of Irish people working within European Union institutions. I know, Kevin, you'll be, you know, this more than most, but I think we need to reverse a trend. Let's go at the moment, but the future, unless we strategically change direction and work very energetically and proactively in Ireland in, I think languages in our schools, for example, because language competency is important, I think that's kind of slipped off the agenda somewhat. And I think we need to get that back on a primary and post primary level, but we need more Irish people looking to Europe careers and for development and so we have a comprehensive strategy now published by government to increase the numbers working in EU institutions. That's important also in terms of our strategic objectives within the European Union. And based on my own personal experience, I would certainly encourage any Irish person to give it a go and to play our role in strengthening where Europe goes from here and the clock on these occasions is always our enemy and there were two questions about that increasing Irish representation in the institutions so thank you for for stalling those questions. And we have promised to finish by one o'clock and I want to keep to that so Tisha one last question. And from Joe Mulholland is on Tisha concerned about the imminent departure of Dr Angela Merkel from the political scene and the difficulties which Emmanuel Macron will face in the forthcoming presidential elections in France next year. Yeah, first of all, yes, in some respects, but one has to give those who come forward opportunities to you know, as opposed to strength of the Union is and should be an all political system should be that no individual is indispensable. And that said, I think Angela Merkel has been a tour of strength. And from my experience of the last year. Angela Merkel's impact on the Union is profound. It's strong. I was key with Emmanuel Macron, for example, to getting that key decision at the July Council in terms of first time ever an unprecedented move in terms of on, you know, resources and in terms of borrowing collectively to help fund our way out of the pandemic. So, without doubt, it will be a moment of change. I think Emmanuel Macron is a very formidable politician, and I think he's had also, I think is applying very constructive approach to the European Union has a has a bold approach to Europe itself into its future and he wants to be ambitious for Europe. So, but it is a moment of change that this next 12 months in respect of Europe. But again, we have to work to ensure the strengths of the institutions will take us through this. Tisha, on behalf of the Institute, can I thank you very much for an extremely stimulating address but also for your willingness to take such a huge range of questions and to answer them all very well. We were delighted to have had you deliver the Halligan Memorial Press, and I can think of no better way to remember a man who spent so much time and energy devoting himself to the cause of the European Union. Without being too idealistic with understanding that it has its flaws that it's it's made up of human beings. But always with the same view that you have articulated the conviction that Ireland's place is in the European Union, that we can contribute to it and that we benefit from it. So thank you very much for taking the time with us today to celebrate Brandon's legacy and to look forward to the future that we will all play together as Ireland in the European Union. Yes, thank you to the very many numerous participants in this webinar. I'm sorry we didn't get to all the questions, but I think we managed to cover a very broad range of topics and Tisha has been very generous with his time and very forthcoming in his answers. So, Gerv Meal, my good Tisha. Thank you very much indeed Catherine and just to say I'm delighted to have had this opportunity, particularly to remember Brendan, who I think had a wonderful form of whatever term relaxed with and good humor. You know, he just took life in its stride. And I think the Institute is one of his great legacies to Irish public discourse and debate, which I know is much sought after many, many people. I mean so much from this Institute in so many different ways and remember him and we miss him and his contribution to Irish public life. Thank you very much.