 Maen nhw'n meddwl y gallwn ei ddechrau bod hi'n meddwl i gynnyddio'r hyn yw'r ddiyn nhw'n meddwl yma, sy'n meddwl am gyfnodau cyngor, gyngor Gwangham a'r mwyaf gyngor South Korea, ond wedi'i ddeg ar gyfer y newid astudio, a'r ddysgu argymau am y gwaith. A'r ystafell yma ar gyfer y gwaith gyngor Gwangham a'r ddysgu ar gyfer y gwaith gyngor Gwangham is I want to demonstrate by way of story three different points. The first area that I want to demonstrate is the extraordinary environment within which a country like Ireland operates. The second point that I want to touch on then is based on outlining my views regarding the environment within which Ireland is in, my then views regarding what are the principles that have underpinned our policy towards the European project across our 40 years of membership, and then use that to frame my own priorities during this time as Minister. I've had to be careful about using that language because of a number of smaller events I've referred to in my time in this ministry, which makes me sound like a priest. So really my time in this role. And then I'm going to conclude then by some comments on some very specific issues within which the European Union is engaged in at the moment, and within which Ireland is playing a part. But to go back to where I started with, the extraordinary story of Cy, of Gangman style, and what that tells us about the world within which we're located. Prior to July 2012, Cy was well known within South Korea, but he wasn't an international pop-star or figure like Lady Gaga or Madonna. Again, I'm breaking you ground. Lady Gaga, Madonna, Cy, beginning in the speech here, but bear with me. It's fair to say that he was not featuring in the playlists or dance floors of Ireland or Europe. If any of you were grooving away in a dance floor 18 months ago, it would not have been to Cy. All of this changed very quickly with the launch of his sixth album, which was called Cy Part One. Within one year of the release of this album and its single Gangman style that I touched on a moment ago, Cy had went from being a purely domestic figure to a globally recognised name, a global superstar. The Secretary General of the United Nations within 12 months of the release of that single met with him to discuss the role of music in world affairs. He received an audience with the Dalai Lama. President Obama referred to his music in a discussion regarding Korea, and he got to a point where from relative anonymity globally, within 12 to 18 months his song, his dancing was being imitated in living rooms and in dance floors all over the world. So, how did this happen? How did such a transformation occur? Well, the answer, as some of you may know, was through the role of social media. It was through the role of YouTube. His video, Gangman style, the single that I'm referring to, has now been viewed 1,773 billion times on YouTube. It's the first video ever to exceed the billion mark in terms of the number of people that are viewing that. So, just think about that for one moment. Within under 18 months, nearly 2 billion people have watched his video, and I'm reliably informed by somebody who I work closely with that this week it passed a 1.8 billion view mark. So, let's just think about that for a moment. Think about the impact that that can have on somebody's profile. But what that demonstrates more for me rather than just the impact on him is what that says about the communications revolution that's taking place within our world. What we now have is we have very deep and very profound integration, which is now such a daily part of all of our existence that we take these kind of extraordinary feats of communication absolutely for granted. We think this is a norm. We have interconnection, we have integration, and we have interdependence of the very deepest and of the most profound kind. And these concepts are absolutely essential if we're to understand what's happening in economies, whether these economies be global, whether they be European or whether they be national. And we've seen this happen again and again and again in the crisis that the continent and the world has gone through over the last five years. We've seen how a bubble in lending to low income families within America can have consequences that affect families all over the world and all over the developed world. We've seen how decisions in relation to the Greek financial crisis can have consequences that affect everybody. And what each of those two things demonstrates is that cause and effect and the flow between the two of them pays no respect to national boundaries. And this phenomenon, this trend is summed up under the phrase globalization, something that I think many of you will be well familiar with, which is a very technical phrase that belies a very, very profound transformation from local to global, the integration of local and national cultures, economies and societies into a globalised whole. And what is all this meant? Well let's just look at the economic consequence of this for a moment. And let me pick some examples of the benefits and then of the difficulties. Since 1950 global exports have grown per year by 6%. The United Nations calculates that since 1980 average incomes per head have increased by 70%. Within Europe across the same time period, which would be coming off a higher base, average incomes per head have gone up by 49%. And maybe there are two benefits, but let's look at the other side of the coin. Let's look at the difficulties that are inherent in this, widespread and absolute poverty across many parts of the world. The World Bank now estimates that there's 400 million children living in absolute poverty. Another example of the difficulty of all of this has been the development of financial instruments, whose complexity and difficulty to regulate nearly wrecked the entire global economy and nearly brought it to its complete needs there across 2008, 2009 and 2010. So globalisation is the defining political, economic and social characteristic of our era. It uniquely offers the opportunity and the framework within which countries have to live and have to respond, but also gives them an environment within which they're capable of prospering. And how is this? It does it by allowing access to wider markets. It does it by allowing national citizens to learn from other cultures and proudly share what they believe makes them unique with other people in a world in which physical distance no longer matters due to the digital transformation that I referred to earlier on. Now I do not believe that globalisation is something that is done to us. I don't believe it's something that's inflicted on societies by a powerful other. It's a direct consequence of our natural human desire to communicate, to share and to exchange. And because I believe these are traits that form an essential part of our own national identity, it's an environment within which Ireland can do well and does do well. Our size, our location and our history have deeply endowed us with an appreciation of how large forces can help us serve towards better days and how large forces can also capsise our efforts to protect and develop our states. But the other side of the coin which I touched on earlier on, the risks of financial deregulation, the threat of alienation, the damage to our environment and the possibility of the erosion of national traits are real, they're significant and they're present. As I've said, I believe this is the defining challenge that any state faces in how we respond to the transformative effect of globalisation. And I can see this very clearly in my time as Minister today. While still very early in my time as Minister, I've now attended two general affairs councils, one Eurogroup meeting, one Ecofin meeting, one Informer meeting of Ministers for European Affairs. I've addressed the Northern Ireland Assembly of the Northern Ireland, excuse me, Committee for the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister. I've addressed the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly on European Union Affairs and I've spent an awful lot of time in airports, on the roads, meeting many of my counterparts in other countries as I have meeting many of you. I recently attended the European Council with the Taoiseach. And from the end of August to the end of December, across that time period, I'll have performed 20 different engagements abroad, either in European institutions or in European states. And I can see again and again the threat that links most of those policy discussions is the effect of globalisation. It's evident in discussions on banking union, it's evident in discussions that take place in relation to national boundaries and in relation to the environment. So let me ring all that right back then to Ireland. Because having described the kind of world as it is, I then want to locate Ireland within that description. And I believe how we respond to that globalisation is our new national question. At different times in our history, that question has meant different things to different people. At one point it was about independence, at a different point it was about the location of our borders and our relationship with Northern Ireland. It then became about our relationship with the United Kingdom. But at each stage in that debate, the dimensions of it, the facets of it were nearly exclusively physical. And we now face a very different kind of a national question of how a small island, like Ireland, of the coast of Europe can prosper and respond to a globalised world. And this is very well expressed by Danny Rodrick, who's a Harvard-based economist, when he referred to the political trilemma, whereby countries cannot simultaneously achieve democracy, participate in economic globalisation and pursue national self-determination. At best he believes they can achieve two out of those three, but not all three of them. So all of this poses a very essential challenge to sovereignty. Philip Stevens of the Financial Times summed up this challenge well when in an address to this institute earlier on in the year he said that sovereignty is increasingly prized, but even as it is prized, this sovereignty is increasingly ineffective. So how has Ireland responded to this historically? Well the way we've responded to this is by our membership of the European Union and three core insights have motivated our choices and our membership. The first one is that shared sovereignty should be strengthened sovereignty. The states are differently, there are some issues which are beyond the grasp of any states, small or big, to deal with effectively on their own. The better states work together, the stronger their response to global challenges and opportunities. And then this leads very clearly on to the second principle and this second principle is that the institutions of the European Union offer the best way for Ireland within which this shared response can be developed and then implemented. And this is true of the community method, one of the cornerstones of the European project, which offers a guarantee of fairness by ensuring that the vital national interest of each country is recognised while enabling strong collaboration between each member states. And then this leads very directly to the final principle with all of this, that a European framework is the best platform for the advancement of the Irish national interest. And let me be really clear about this point, this framework doesn't subsume or replace a national interest, rather it offers towards the best opportunity within which it can be expressed. So to summarise, in the space between nominal sovereignty and effective sovereignty resides our membership of the European Union and this is an active space where Ireland collectively makes decisions on issues that impact on us and the people of Europe. But amidst all of this talk about sovereignty, methods, frameworks, gangman style and so on, I don't want to lose sight of one very key point in different language and this is this, that we're more effective together and we refers to the countries of Europe and on our own we're less effective to responding to things that the people of Europe and the people of Ireland care about, that's the essential point. So when we talk of banking unions, of economic unions, of fiscal unions, of transfer unions, let us first remember the essential union upon which everything else is built. A union of values and the continent that recognises the value of union, that's the starting point. And this thread, the link between sharing sovereignty to the community methods to advancing national interests inside the framework of the union has underpinned the policy of our state towards the European Union. So having put that framework in place, I want to now identify what my own priorities are going to be after the Taoiseach appointed me and these fit into four different areas. Engaging with Europe, accountable Europe and open Europe and effective in Europe and I want to address each in turn. Engaging with Europe, it's an evidence but nonetheless absolutely vital place to start. It's my commitment to maintain a high level of engagement with our friends in the European Union and we have 27 of them following our successful presidency of the Council of Ministers. As I mentioned earlier on, I will have completed 20 visits to member states, ministerial, our European Council meetings and European institutions by the time I get to Christmas. Many of these engagements have included meetings with local media, with officials, with business communities, with our Irish community to reinforce the message that Ireland is regaining its strength and will emerge as the first from our bailout in December. Include within these engagement priorities is the European Parliament. The Lisbon Treaty, as you all know, developed up the powers of the Parliament through increased decision making and this was hugely evident to us during our presidency of the Union. During that time we co-chaired 374 trilog meetings with the European Parliament and this partnership with the Parliament led to important decisions on banking union, the multi-annual financial framework and the finalisation of major policy programmes such as CAP and the Horizon 2020. And this brings me on nicely down to the concept of accountable Europe and what I'm referring to there is our engagement with Europe through the Forum of our Parliament of our Arachtas. Prior to my own appointment as Minister I spent six very, very happy years on the Joint Committee on European Affairs and as a senator I chaired the Arachtas Sub-Commission in Ireland's feature in Europe so I've real form in this area for God in this point. And what I want to do is I want to acknowledge the progress that has been made. This government has ensured that relevant policy committees are charged with engaging in their relevant area of European policy and debate. This is a big and welcome change and it's an important change from the old days in which you had the Joint Committee of European Scrutiny engaged in everything from banking union to eel fishing. Similarly, the pre-imposed European Council debates with the Tisha, the Tornish to Anay and the annual Europe Week in the Arachtas are good reforms but all that said we must look at doing more. So I'm therefore working with my department to put in place a review of what we're doing. I'm going to write each Arachtas committee to request their input into this process but based on my own experience I'm very clear on two particular areas. The first area is the role of mainstreaming and the progress that we've made in mainstreaming European issues into the main work of the Doyle under Shannon. The European dimension is too vital to set aside parliamentary deliberation. For that reason I believe that European scrutiny must continue to be a prerogative of both houses of the Arachtas. Anything else at all would be a regressive step. Secondly, the timing of when that engagement occurs is absolutely vital. If you engage with an issue in relation to a statutory instrument before it's due to be transposed it's too late. What we have to do is pitch that engagement at a different point and timing is so crucial in doing this. But while improving the role of the Arachtas within European scrutiny as part of my work and part of the work in relation to building an accountable Europe it doesn't form all of the work and that's why open Europe is so important. Within that area I'm prioritising three particular areas. The first one is the development of our Blue Star primary skill programme which is an amazing programme that I've had the joy of participating in. Where you talk to primary level kids about Europe, about its cultures, about its languages, about its history and seeing people and young boys and girls respond back to it is I believe an essential way of how we need to talk about Europe in the future. I want to bed that down and look at how we can improve us. The second thing I want to look at is the opportunity to put in place a similar programme, a transition year within our secondary skills and I'll be putting together a recommendation in relation to that by March of next year and then the final area I want to look at is how we talk to a particular part of our society which is the young men and women between the ages of 18 and 24. And there's lots of things that are going to be happening within the European framework across the coming year in relation to a digital Europe, in relation to the youth guarantee, in relation to the MFF but hopefully will allow people to see a different role of Europe within their young lives and I'd like to see can we use that as a platform of better talking to them about Europe as they're seeing that work take place. My final module is effective in Europe and this refers to how Ireland structures our engagement within Europe and two events have defined our recent relationship with the world and with the European Union. The first one is our successful completion of our seventh presidency of the European Union and the second one is our participation in the Troika-led programme of official aid. In July we completed the presidency. By Christmas, December in particular, we're going to exit the bailout programme. Hugely important things for our country. That therefore provides an ideal opportunity for us to refresh our relationship with the European Union and its institutions and to identify priorities for the coming years and review how we're going to achieve them. This is work that will obviously be led by the T-shirt and by the Tornishter but I'm determined to play my role within that. I'll play it as a member of the sub-committee of European Affairs of the Cabinet and I'll also play it through chairing an interdepartmental committee of senior officials that's been put in place to look at how we can structure and intensify our engagement with Europe and its institutions. This brings me on to concluding now with some comments and some of the current priorities facing Ireland and Europe and I want to touch on three particular areas. The first one I want to touch on is the debate and discussion that's taking place regarding strengthening economic and monetary union. The next area is the nature of our relationship between Ireland, the UK and the EU and the third area is the consequences of the economic crisis on European and Irish politics. But let me start with the middle one first. I want to begin with a reference to debate that's taking place within Britain. I've said recently to my UK counterpart Minister David Lidington in one of many constructive exchanges. The European Union is stronger with the UK in it. Stronger with the UK in it as a positive and committed member. This isn't just because of the strength and importance of the relationship between our two countries but also because what the UK brings to the EU, its policy debates and its institutions. And there's a country which frequently and very frequently votes on the nature of our relationship with the European Union. We absolutely respect the debate that is underway there. But it is vital to recognise that there are certain possible outcomes to that debate that could have profound consequences for Ireland and for our relationship with the UK. So I want to emphasise what I believe are two crucial points. And the first one is that while our membership of the Union like every other EU countries membership brings its very many particular challenges the underpinning rationale remains compelling. Participation in collective decision making enhances our sovereignty. It does not erode us. Ireland is an integracist and committed member of the EU community and will remain so. On such a vital topic of national interest we will not be cost in the slipstream of decisions that others make. Second, we welcome the decision on the role of member states within the EU but I am worried about the consequences of a discussion on the role of the UK outside of the EU. Suggestions that much would not change in practice are I believe wide of the mark. Both of our countries work together as equal members of the Union. We are inside the tent together. If we have to meet at the door of the tent to do business this relationship will change. We want to avoid that. We believe it should be avoided. 40 years ago Ireland and the UK took a step together which had the most profound effect on both of our countries. I would defy anybody to say this has not been for the better. In 1973 Ireland and the UK took that step because we believe that our people will best be served through the realisation of that natural tendency that I touched on earlier. The desire to share, to communicate and to exchange within a community of equals. 40 years has not changed that point. I want to move on to the economic crisis now. This is one that has raged across national borders. Contagion, which is never a nice phrase at the best of times has now acquired a powerful economic resonance. Much of the response to this crisis resides within national borders. Ireland has shown an unrelenting determination to fix all we can fix through tackling our national finances, regaining our competitiveness and prioritising job creation. I believe we have passed a pivotal moment in that journey today when our live register has moved below 400,000. Building on the growing progress that our economy is making in delivering sustainable job creation. However, this effort will work best when supported by a strong economic union. It's now apparent that we create the currency union, but not an economic union. The European semester process and the fiscal governance treaty are all crucial elements that have filled this gap. The missing foundation stone is the building of a robust and credible banking union. This is vital, vital not only for Ireland but for Europe. We have learned through bitter experience that when an individual country is unable to answer questions about how they regulate their banks or deal with the costs of their failure, the difficulties for society are just immense. Specifically, we must ensure the appropriate use of a European financial backstop arrangement which is supported by a strong and independent regulatory regime. For regulation to be European-wide, but the costs to be national is not a sustainable equilibrium. I want to conclude on that concept of sustainable equilibrium. Perhaps better expressed by paraphrase in WB8 when he asked in a different setting, in fact just over 100 years ago, he asked, can the centre hold? Children starting in our primary schools this year were born at the start of the crisis. They're not aware of the crisis, but their parents are. It's been a very long and unbelievably difficult five years. But the challenge that we now face is that many now doubt the success of current levels of economic political integration. Indeed, some people believe that those levels of integration are the cause of the difficulty that we're in. At the same time, we ask people for potential consent in the future for further levels of integration. We have to be aware of this tension. We can see a similar tension in relation to the existence of bailout programmes or external aid programmes. No country wants to be in a programme. At any time, other countries are understandably reluctant to fund them, to fund them. These undercurrents have to be recognised, we have to respond to them. And I think we need to do this in two ways. The first one is by how we talk about the crisis, by how we explain it to our people. And second by demonstrating the clear rationale and benefit of any future changes. To paraphrase Walter Pylestein, one of the first presidents of the European Commission, I think the first, but to state his insight in a different way, the rationale for integration can no longer just be its own logic. We have to pitch this differently. More broadly, we must make the case for Europe while acknowledging its difficulty and fixing its flaws. And look what I've just done. I spent over half my speech making the case for Europe and Ireland within Europe to a group of people that I hope are convinced of it in the first place. But that's the backdrop, the undercurrent, we have to have all of the time to when we talk about Europe and Ireland's relationship within us. Our natural instinct, as I said, is to co-operate and the European Union represents the best way of doing this in the face of challenges and opportunities that are too big for any country to deal with on their own. Which leads me nicely to my final point. Luc van Midlar, the Dutch political philosopher and the author of the recent book The Passage to Europe, recently wrote in that book of the European project when he said that no one ever sails in a notion of certainty. And he argued that when a storm becomes too fierce and the wind blows your boat towards an open sea, it's better to have a good compass than an anchor. This compass is our membership of a union which we voluntarily joined which allows us to participate in choices that impact our people, my country. If we're not at the table, the choices will be made anyway and the people would still feel their impact. So better to be at the table, better to be present. But to be present is not enough. We participate, we engage, we influence. We do our best to do all of those things. That is what is needed to make a difference to our people and we hope to Europe as well. And our recent presidency of the Council of the European Union was, I hope, an example of this. If I began with Gangnam style, it feels only appropriate with the week that's in us that I should end with Lou Reed. Though God only knows what he would think of inclusion and dissentance let alone this speech. He sang, you're going to reap just what you sow. Despite our current difficulties, we have benefits, we have contributors and Europe will play a crucial role in our recovery. Boss, here's the boss. This political structure, unlike a physical one, requires that foundations be always relayed, be always replenished through the continued consent of our people. In my time in this role and in the commitment of our government, I have determined to play my necessary part in this work. Thank you.