Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have met a number of his colleagues at various events. One made the comment that, currently, the UK has the best of both worlds. It has the Common Market and all of the benefits derived from same while it has its own currency, central bank and so on.

Deputy Byrne touched on the question of the impact on the Union. If Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were to vote "No", which is possible, while England voted "Yes" to exit and the overall vote was "Yes", what would the implications be? The SNP has taken some soundings in Scotland along these lines. Would such a scenario hasten the break-up of the Union?

In light of our meetings last week, three issues keep arising: loss of sovereignty, on which Sir William has a strong view; immigration and the free movement of people, which I believe he mentioned; and bureaucracy, red tape and so on. Various facets of Sir William's party have different problems with these issues. Some are more easily solved than others, with bureaucracy and red tape probably the easiest.

A number of countries would share Sir William's concerns in that regard. Some countries might find common ground on the issue of immigration and free movement, while sovereignty is a bigger picture. Is there scope for some of these issues to be solved in order to persuade members of Sir William's party to support continued membership of the Union? If the UK leaves, we have a vested interest in terms of our common border with Northern Ireland. How does he envisage the operation of a land border with a country that is not in the European Union? After all that has happened, passport controls would certainly not be desirable. Ireland might be viewed as an easy way for EU migrants to enter the UK.

The party appears to be becoming more anti-EU at the grassroots level. Where does Sir William see scope for former pro-Europeans? If Michael Heseltine or Kenneth Clarke came along today as young aspiring MPs, would they even get through the selection process to stand for Parliament? They were capable individuals with strong voices, even if Sir William might have disagreed with them on European issues.