Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I am going to spoil the party and use the language of the invader. Unfortunately my knowledge of the Irish language is fairly limited. In order not to insult the delegation completely I have managed to put together a few words. Ta áthas mór orm nuair a chuala mé tuairimí Fhélim, Chaoimhín Ó Ceallaigh agus na paistí eile faoi rialtais na hEorpach. I do not need to listen to the translation.

It is very refreshing to hear so much scepticism about our participation in the European Union because one does not hear too much about that in this environment. On a number of occasions in the Dáil I called on Members to leave the euro currency. If I had let off a stink bomb I would not have got a better reaction because the chairs around me seemed to empty. I hope the people listening today to the opinions expressed by the delegation will actually take stock of the fact that cynicism and scepticism toward the Europe Union project is building massively. l can see that it is buried deeply in the psyche of people who are now at school. I congratulate the delegation on that and I ask them to keep it going. Whatever about Ireland disengaging from the European Union at least if one is proposing alternative ideas, one is challenging them at least to make it a better Europe so that the Commission can come back and suggest we stay in Europe. The Commission might engage in a charm offensive so that it will not bully us as much in the future. The attitude of the delegates is a great help. They do not think that we would all be living in caves, if it were not for Europe. This generation are confident enough to stand up for our nation and are smart enough to spot that they have a right to be confident, living in a nation that can afford to feed ten times its own population. Why worry about the bond markets when one has a commodity in abundance that everybody on the planet want to buy? They are right to be confident.

The Internet is brilliant. It is one of the best innovations the human race has ever made. Let us remember when the telephone was invented, people were sceptical and were afraid. The mothers and fathers of the bourgeoisie and the rich feared they could not control their sons and daughters any more. They could not control the time or place in which their daughters met with men. It changed the world. It presented difficulties that even I, if I were a parent at that time and knew what my daughter was doing at all times, to a situation, where she could be on the telephone to a bloke, would be worried. Obviously that was a cause of worry but one would have to look at the mass of advantages as well. There are worries and they need to be dealt with but ultimately the problem of bullying lies with the individual. Whether it be the Internet or a telephone made with a piece of string and two bean cans, if somebody is abusing you down the bean can, it is just as hurtful as if it happening over the Internet.

I agree that technology needs to be tweaked. I have never been on ask.fm. From the account given by the delegates it sounds an awful website and I will take their word on it.

However the Internet offers significant advantages. I am not ancient but I am not that young anymore, when I was the same age of the delegates, we did not have a telephone in our house, although telephones had been invented. In my day you never knew if a girl liked you or not, because you always had to ring her. You had to do the chasing.

Young people have certain advantages, one being they have a telephone. I think they live in a glorious time. The debate on social media is driven by the media organisations whose biggest fear is not bullying but the threat to their big salaries and whether they will be the only people who will be able to form opinion in society, as they have from the time of Eamon de Valera who owned the Irish Press. They are the driving force in creating fear in people about the Internet. If the Internet keeps going the way it is, the major newspaper, such as The Irish Timesand the Irish Independent will not be as popular in the future. The opinion of the ordinary person will be more important.

The delegates raised the issue of change in the country, the way the country will change is that unfiltered opinions will be public on the Internet. Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú asked the delegates if they would think of going into politics in the future. Let me say that they must go into politics. Do not rely on this generation to change things as our record has been diabolical so far. Do it for yourselves. Do the delegates think we should bury ourselves deeper in Europe or should we kick into a reverse gear?

I thank the delegates for their excellent presentation.