John McGuinness: EU Presidency must put citizens first
John McGuinness spoke in the House during debate on the Irish EU Presidency, urging that citizens be placed at the centre of EU policy and that bureaucracy be reduced. He highlighted examples from family business procurement, farming grants, banking access and calls to reopen trade engagement with Taiwan.
Local business spotlight
John McGuinness opens by praising Cushendale Mills, a family-run textile firm in County Kilkenny, and notes its success in the Presidency procurement process. He uses the example to argue that Irish companies can benefit from EU procurement when the system works for families and local producers.
Citizens versus bureaucracy
He argues that the European Union has become overly bureaucratic and that this has downgraded the rights of ordinary citizens compared with other member states. McGuinness challenges why Irish citizens cannot access the same cheap mortgages, insurance options or banking entrants that exist elsewhere in the EU.
Farmers and enterprise
The speaker criticises red tape that he says prevents small Irish farmers from profiting and from participating in environmental protection schemes. He also calls for a more assertive Irish approach to enterprise abroad, citing the absence of a trade office in Taiwan and the missed opportunities around semiconductors and student exchanges.
Social justice and accountability
McGuinness presses for stronger EU protections for whistleblowers and insists citizens, not corporations or banks, must be at the centre of policy. He warns against one-size-fits-all funding that makes towns and cities look identical and urges the Presidency to respect local difference and rights.
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Cathaoirleach, on a 13th century site in Gregna Manna in County Kilkenny, stands one of the last remaining textile mills run by a family since 1778, Cushendale Mills. And it was successful in the procurement process of providing a corporate gift of a scarf for those that will participate in the presidency. I mention this because it's of significance to how an Irish company that is family-owned can benefit from a process, a procurement process, that will now bring its product to the attention of the countries within the European Union. It is proud of the fact that it goes from fleece to fabric. It's a wonderful family and I am delighted to have the opportunity to mention it here in this House. And I wish them well in their markets that they will engage with through trade within the European Union and beyond. I, like other speakers, acknowledge the very positive role that was played within the European Union. The positive benefits to Ireland from that participation and how we have successfully managed to develop as a country within that European Union. But when that Union started out, it was about more than trade. It was about the importance of the European citizen within that Union. And the effort was to be made to ensure that the citizens of Europe would be better off as part of that membership. And that, in my mind, has faded away to an extent. So, for example, why is it that within the European Union you can get a very cheap mortgage but you can't get it here? It's a simple question, but it's fundamental to the rights of Irish citizens to be able to get what citizens in other parts of Europe can get, which is a cheap mortgage. Why is it that the insurance industry within Europe is not open to the citizens of Ireland for them to benefit from cheaper premiums? Why is it that Sparkison Bank, for example, in Germany, cannot be part of the banking system here? These are questions that need to be asked by the government during the process or during the time of this Presidency. Because for me, I listen to the Minister, simplify rules, that's a good statement, but that's not what is happening within the European Union. In my opinion, the bureaucracy of the European Union has run away with itself, it has become more important than European states, and it has put the citizen in a second class place. That has to be corrected, and that's what I hope will happen during the Irish Presidency. The Minister said to eliminate barriers. Well, there's barriers to Irish farmers farming. That barrier is bureaucracy, it's red tape, and it is putting farms as we would know them, small farms that make up the bulk of the country's farming families, putting them to the pin of their collar to make money, to make a profit. And it's only that profit that's going to keep them there. Saying that I'm going to give them a grant, and then tying so much red tape around that grant, that it's not worthwhile them getting it. But still they want to farm. Making it difficult for them to protect the environment that they acknowledge, the role that they play in terms of that protection. And making the grant system impossible for them again. That has to be simplified. Now we talk about enterprise then, and I'm trying to highlight the imbalances that are there in Europe. Some of the positions taken, the hypocrisy of them, and simply the fact that maybe it's Ireland's fault that we don't stand up within our European Union and do what other countries do. For example, in Taiwan's population of 21 million people, a massive market, we have no place in that market, but yet 16 individual states, European states, have trade offices in Taiwan. Ireland doesn't have one. It did have one. It closed it down. It cost the state 50,000 a year, but it closed it down back in the downturn in the economy. It should be reopened. It's not interfering with a one China policy. It's doing what 17 entities from Europe and 16 member states in Europe are doing in Taiwan. They are trading and using that as an access point to China and to Asia. But yet we hide behind what is historically an outdated policy statement from China. I'm not going to offend them. The other 17 countries that are out there, or 16, they don't offend them. Members of this house have travelled out there. Members of the government have travelled out there when they were in opposition. But there's different standards now because they're in government, and yet the European Union is leading the way in terms of the numbers that are out there. I want to see that changed. I want to see the student exchange that the UK benefited from when it was in the European Union. The exchange between Taiwan and Ireland. I want to see those Irish students that want to go out and see how the semiconductors are made. I want to see them. I want to allow them the opportunity to be able to educate themselves on that issue, on AI, on technology. And Taiwan is the leading producer of semiconductors. In fact, it opened and invested in Germany and built a factory out there. Why is it that Ireland could not be at the table fighting for that investment, the same as every other country? So these are the issues that I see in terms of enterprise. Social justice is a big thing. The rights of people. In the gallery a few weeks ago on Whistleblowers Day, we had a group of whistleblowers. Some of whom went to try and have their rights vindicated within the European Union. Now, you know, I would say to the European Union, you fine us for not doing stuff. But yet, when you don't do stuff like protecting the rights of those whistleblowers, everything goes silent. So Judy Grace was out there. Noel McGree was out there. Lorraine Morris and so on and so on. And I want to see the European Union take on the role of defending those that had to go out there to vindicate their rights. And perhaps to tell Ireland you should start doing your business at home rather than what you've turned a blind eye to. Ending up in Europe to be sorted out. There is a mishmash here of all sorts of things happening in Europe that happen in Ireland where we don't fulfil the rights of individuals. Dan Brennan is another one that I can think of. So I want to see the citizens of this state being placed in the centre of any policy that's being developed or any action that's being developed whereby the citizen can benefit. Not big corporations, not vulture funds, not banks, not anyone like that. By the way, in relation to the banks, we were short-changed in a very big way by the European Central Bank. During the crash. And that was never really addressed. We have big issues in terms of COVID and we want to investigate that. That wasn't addressed. Like surely one rule for one country within the European Union should be the same in every other member state. And the last thing I would say is they granted all sorts of projects in Ireland. And essentially what's happening with that funding is every city and town and village is starting to look the very same. Same big cycle tracks, same narrow roads, same lights, same everything. And we should tell the European Union everyone is not the same. We're different and that should be celebrated.
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