Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am deeply committed to the European model. In recent years, people have made populist statements to the effect that Europe should go to hell because it is the cause of all our troubles. This sentiment has been strengthening. Senator Leyden touched on a point regarding standards. In Spain, for example, construction workers wear sneakers and do not wear yellow high visibility vests.

There is no such thing as certified scaffolding. The rules applied here are completely different from what happens in other parts of Europe and that gives the European model what we call a bad name. I will give another example. Whether it is HSE policy or the interpretation of rules and regulations from Europe, I always tell this story about a small shop that had three stools for people to sit on when they were collecting their pension on a Friday. A HSE official called in one day and said the stools had to be removed because there was no public toilet in the place. The shop could not be encouraging people to sit down if it did not have a toilet. The person who owned the building did exactly what they were told and removed the stools. The following week the elderly people were looking for the seats so they could sit on them while waiting to be picked up after collecting their pension, so the person brought out the stools. There was another unofficial visit and subsequently the person received a letter telling them that there would be one more visit and if the stools were out in the shop the person would be fined €3,000. People in business see this type of thing happening and regardless of whether the policy or direction comes from Europe it is easy to give Europe the blame.

Equally, Senator Leyden rightly made a point about agriculture and how stringent the rules are for farmers. If is not as if we all want a situation where there are no rules or regulations. Recently, there was a suggestion about splash back slurry spreaders. Everybody was encouraged to install slatted tanks. If one has a slatted tank it means one has an effluent problem and one must get it out on the land at whatever time of the year one can. Again, one is restricted in when one can put it out. All of the farmers and the contractors have the splash back slurry spreaders. There was a banner headline two weeks ago in the Irish Farmers Journalon the possibility that they would be made illegal. Instead, one would be required to have a dribbler system, which puts the slurry directly into the ground rather than spraying it into the air. Of course, the issue was emissions, ammonia in the air and so forth. There are several other ways in which that problem could be tackled. For example, one could put charcoal dust into the tank. That would improve the quality of the slurry, one could continue with splash back and one would not require this dribbler system, which is cost prohibitive. Much of the terrain we have would not be suitable for the dribbler system as the system cannot be worked practically on the land. Again, the blame for such situations rightly or wrongly falls back on Europe.

I believe that is what happened in the campaign for Brexit. The politicians who were selling the divorce model and campaigning for leave got the media into a frenzy of enticing and encouraging people to vote for Brexit, which is exactly what happened. I am not trying to say that the same thing could happen here in the future, but the concept of Europe getting a bad name stems from situations such as that. It has been growing over the years. Experienced politicians, such as the members here, who have been in politics for a long time have seen the growth of what you call populism in your White Paper. It has grown, but it is because of things such as that. It makes it easy for people who wish to promote the demise of the European model to sell it. It is no mystery to me. While I was dismayed and surprised with the vote for Brexit, but I was not shocked. I saw the way the politicians were running their campaign and they sold it effectively, but what they sold was a pup. We all know that.

Thank you very much, Mr. Kiely. You are welcome to make summarising remarks if you wish.