Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will make two very quick points, the first of which is very specific.

On the issue of a land bridge, Professor Barrett has made the point that any EU member state that wants to trade with us will be affected. Therefore, businesses throughout the entire European Union will be affected. An example is fresh produce coming into the country. Flowers from Dutch suppliers and stuff like that all present a nightmare scenario for us because of Brexit. I hope, therefore, that in the negotiations the UK Government will facilitate the provision of a land bridge. Its achievement is very possible.

On the ideological issue, at the risk of my Fianna Fáil colleagues being doubly surprised, we had a great Government and a great Minister for Education in Donogh O'Malley who introduced free second level education. If we had been around at the time, we would probably have heard people making the same point, that the beneficiaries of second level education had it reflected in their ability to earn an income afterwards and that, therefore, we should not have it. In an ideal world I would agree totally with Senator Gerard P. Craughwell that we should try to supply an education from the cradle until people reach an age at which they move into the workforce. Even after that, we should supply them with an opportunity to engage in ongoing education. Obviously, Governments have restrictions on expenditure, but I do not accept the point made. It is valid, but I firmly believe it could just as easily be applied to second level education. Not many people in this country would agree that we made the wrong choice in that regard.