The best is yet to come from Ireland's EU membership believes Offaly TD

TRAVEL anywhere in Offaly and you will find the marks of Europe.   It isn't with Roman ruins like most other European countries as we were too westerly for those armies.  
But the marks of Europe are everywhere in Offaly and Laois and the Midlands in general - from the more recent times of the 50 years of our membership of the European Union. 
The European marks I talk about are in our people and our places: farmers who benefited from so many schemes; students who got education opportunities; EEC or EC or EU plaques on roads, train stations, hotels and so many other parts of our economy and society that benefited from European Social Fund, LEADER, CAP and so many other opportunities.
Fianna Fail's part in Ireland's EU journey is one of the things that makes me proudest about the party.   Then Taoiseach Jack Lynch had the bottle in 1973 to take Ireland on a journey that has transformed Ireland economically, socially and politically.   Previous Taoiseach Sean Lemass had started the ball rolling with an outward-looking mindset during his time of power.   He set the seeds for our economic relationships with the USA and with Europe.
Those iconic photographs of Ireland signing up to European membership in 1973 are burned into all our minds because it was a turning point for the country.   It helped us to become the open, fair and welcoming country we are.   It gave our young people the opportunities generations before did not have of education, jobs and futures.
Fianna Fail's relationship with the European Union remains a committed one.   It has not been without pain or sacrifice but the decisions taken to restore Ireland's finances and stop the financial contagion a decade or more ago has meant that EU funds remain open to us for the pandemic, for Brexit and for other catastrophes that may hit us.   In our own counties here too, we have been able to make the arguments for EU funding for Just Transition.  
I have always insisted that our peatlands needed to be treated in the same way as the coal regions of Europe that got halted from production.   That argument worked and merited the Just Transition funds that have come and hopefully will flow faster in years to come.
While the funds to assist agriculture, industry, businesses and the economy have been a wonderful benefit of the EU, it is the openness it brought to Ireland that is its greatest legacy.   When you go anywhere, whether a school, a mart or a pub, Irish people have an interest in Europe.  
People have studied all the EU schemes and packages, thought about the implications of Brexit, felt for the people not far away from here stuck in a war, have understood the importance of democracy and also being part of a bigger trading bloc.
Irish people know know lots about other EU countries, have a great hunger to travel or study abroad, some even have to go and get treated for conditions in other EU countries because our lists are shamefully long here.  
But at least membership of the EU lets us do all these things.   It was a step worth taking in 1973 and remains as important in 2023 as it was to Jack Lynch and his Fianna Fail colleagues in Government 50 years' ago.
Ireland's best may yet be to come with the EU.   The west coast of Ireland has the wind and wave power to be the electricity engine of Europe.   If this country gets its opportunity right with planning, investment in ports and people, we can create a brand new industry, bigger than anything we have done before in offshore renewables.  
At least 50,000 jobs can be created on the west coast alone and it will be to our economy as oil was to the Middle East.   As we remain in the Union, the opportunity to supply the industrial hubs of Europe in France, Germany, Italy and so on with EU power gives us the advantage over the UK.   Let's go take it and be part of the next industrial revolution for Europe.   The EU Abu.