Paul Murphy warns far right is on the march across Europe

The far right is unfortunately on the march across Europe, they are on the verge of coming to power in France, we will see obviously at the end of the week, we hope that they are not, they will be the first far right government in France since the Vichy regime and in fact the party of the ORN they have their origins in the Vichy regime, members of the SS operated within France in support of the Nazi occupation and the question for all progressive people across Europe is politically how can the far right be stopped across Europe and across much of the world and there are lessons to learn from France and one of those is precisely that the so-called centre or the extreme centre as Tarek Ali termed them actually paved the way for the far right, I mean immediately in terms of in the most immediate sense Macron called these elections elections in the hope of bolstering himself catching the left off guard and in fact opened the door to the far right winning a parliamentary majority, but over the past number of years by his policies of austerity, increased social deprivation, attacks on workers rights, attacks on pension rights and then centering the issue of immigration as if that's the problem, putting forward an immigration law that was supported by the far right, it was so bad and so racist, has opened the door to the far right, so these forces cannot be trusted also at a European level, Ursula von der Leyen shamefully trying to delay a report into the crackdown on media freedoms in Italy in order to flirt with Maloney and to try to get her support, it is the left that offers an alternative in the form of the new popular front but also on the streets. Can I just say very, very clearly in relation to immigration, it is a good thing, immigration is a good thing, this country is the better as a result of people who have come here and made this country their home, our health service, our economy, our society, our schools, our public sector, our private sector, this is a country that has benefited from migration and from immigration, I just want to say that very clearly, that is not in any way contradictory to the fact that of course we have to have rules around our migration system and we have to enforce those rules as well. I have a very different, as you and I will know, a very different political outlook to some of the colleagues sitting across the floor, and I have a different perspective in relation to how you take on the far right, because I actually think it is the job of centrist politicians like myself not to shirk issues, that if they are shirked, then actually it allows a vacuum to develop, and that vacuum, that vacuum is often exploited by the far right, who try to sow division in this country. So we may disagree on many issues, and we may disagree on how to address issues, but I certainly do not think there is any disagreement of any deputy currently present in this chamber that immigration is a good thing, and I just want to say that very clearly as Taoiseach of our country as well. In relation to the French elections, I do not want to predict the outcome, there is a second round, I am conscious that second rounds and how various alliances and the likes that I am reading about and candidates withdrawing and the likes could have a significant impact on the final outcome, but we will obviously be very happy to comment on that once that election is concluded as well. In relation to President von der Leyen, you get the impression that it was just Ireland who backed President von der Leyen. Can we just be clear, with the exception of the Prime Minister of Hungary and the Prime Minister of Italy, all other member states, whether they had a socialist government, as many do, or whether they had a conservative government? Well, the Spanish Prime Minister is clearly a socialist Prime Minister. Well, let us not have a debate about what is socialism, but we can have another discussion on that. But I am just pointing out, across the political spectrum represented at the European Council, there was a view. There is an important democratic point here too. We have a system in Europe around the lead candidate system. And the party, Ursula von der Leyen is the lead candidate for the EPP, which did win the most seats in the European Parliament. I do think her position is misrepresented entirely on the Middle East, and it is for member states to find the courage that I believe they need to find it. Yes, I have raised with her the letter of March, that remains our position. Yes, I have raised at the European Council recognition. Yes, I have raised and changed the European conclusions in relation to the International Court of Justice, where Europe needed to be much stronger, UNRWA, and the importance of financially supporting the Palestinian Authority. Sorry, on defence readiness, let me come back to you maybe in the next round. Deputy Hoaghy, my apologies. No, you have... Can I? Oh, can I? Okay, sorry. My apologies, because it's an important... Sorry, I thought you were asking me to stop. Thank you, sir. Can I do my best to answer? But to Deputy Hoaghy, look, I mean, I think it's fair to say at this stage, the conversations that are happening at a European level around security and defence are in the provisional and preliminary space. And what I mean by that is we've yet to see proposals, tables. So there's a lot of views, and as you can imagine, particularly from countries in Eastern Europe, who are obviously much closer to the frontline in terms of Russian aggression in relation to how is Europe going to deal with its security and defence. Ireland should never recuse itself from those conversations. We live in Europe. We are of Europe. Our security, our defence, the security, the defence, the wellbeing of this country matters to me. It's the greatest obligation of any government to keep its people safe. But obviously any discussions, as those discussions develop, we'll have two concerns. One, everything that we participate in will have to be consistent with our military neutrality. And secondly, how these initiatives are funded is, I think, a really important discussion. Because this idea of can we change the mandate of the European Investment Bank is interesting in and of itself. But if the pot is still just the same for the European Investment Bank, what does that mean for the work on climate? What does that mean for the work on digital transition? So I'm happy to keep the house updated as those discussions progress. Thank you.