Deputy Murphy Wishes Commissioner McGuinness well in her new portfolio for Financial Services and Financial Stability.
Verona Murphy, the Independent TD for Wexford has said that significant damage has been done to Ireland’s national interests in Europe by the loss of the EU Trade Portfolio at a time when Brexit is nearly upon us. She claims that we have seen a significant weakening of our power and influence as a result of the Government’s mismanagement of our relations with the EU Commission.
Speaking from Wexford, Deputy Murphy commented,
“I have no doubt that Commissioner McGuinness has the competency and experience to fulfil her brief and I wish her well in her position. I have worked alongside Mairead McGuinness for many years and always found her to be on top of her brief. However her appointment cannot overshadow the incalculable loss for Ireland of the influential Trade Portfolio at a time when the country is about to embark on a most difficult final stage of the Brexit trade deal.”
“An Irish person held the incredibly important EU Commission portfolio for Trade – a key portfolio given the imminence of Brexit. And we had an Irish Vice President of the European Parliament – someone who is respected in the Parliament. Now that Ireland has now lost the Trade portfolio, our new Commissioner has a less significant brief from an Irish perspective, and we have no Vice President in the Parliament. I’ve no doubt that Irelands interests, and effectiveness in the EU have been damaged. We have gone from being a small member state on the periphery of Europe with significant clout in Brussels to now being a State with very limited influence in the EU Institutions. In years to come the short-sighted manner in which the Irish Government secured the loss of an Irish Commissioner in a Trade portfolio at a pivotal time will be recognised as one of the most significant acts of self-harm that a member state has inflicted on itself. Allowing party political considerations to take precedence over our national interest was just wrong. The Governments job is to lead and to think strategically, we must have politicians with the bottle and vision to govern the country in line with the best interests of the Country not what appears to be politically expedient for themselves.”
“I have a lot of admiration for Mairead McGuinness and I wish her well in her new portfolio, but the allocation of the portfolio of ‘Financial Services and Financial Stability’ to her by the Commission President is no substitute for the significance of having an Irish person as EU Commissioner for Trade when Brexit is just upon us given reports on the UK’s stand on the withdrawal agreement in recent days”.
The Deputy added that a strong investment in time and political capital will be required to regain our position of influence and respect in Europe.