Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Professor Brigid Laffan wrote an article recently in which she said that our response to Brexit should be a willingness to sacrifice what she termed our sacred cows, namely, neutrality and our attachment to our autonomy on corporation tax. In respect of neutrality, when we negotiated the Lisbon treaty we negotiated an opt-out on neutrality but when the people were asked to vote on that treaty, it was inserted into the Constitution that Ireland would not play a part in a European defence. We are prohibited from doing it. Many people in the broader European movement seem not to understand that fact. I notice that in the survey Ms O'Connell so helpfully handed us, many think we should engage in co-operation on defence and security matters. That is a vague statement but we amended our Constitution to not permit us to participate in EU defence if it involved the State.

There is a sense in which many in Ireland feel that Professor Laffan's article and similar commentary invite Ireland effectively to give up on its opposition to a competence for the EU to determine corporation tax policy in detail because somehow we are seen to be obstructive. Macron mentioned it in his presidential campaign. That is disturbing from our point of view because it is one of the only weapons or instruments at our disposal enabling us to counterbalance the centripetal effects of economic concentration in the larger centrally located countries.

Sweden withdrew its embassy from Ireland some years ago as part of a cutback policy. If we are to forge new alliances, we should at least have full and functioning normal diplomatic relations with Sweden. I invite Ms O'Connell to comment on that point.