Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like the previous speaker I thank our guests for coming before us and for their very interesting presentations. I compliment them on their success in recent years, especially regarding Brexit and the degree to which they have deployed themselves throughout all the member states of the European Union. They have successfully managed to transmit a message of the importance of Brexit, the threat it presents to us and the threat it presents to the European Union. They have done a tremendous job and we owe each and every member of our diplomatic service a debt of gratitude. They deserve to take a bow.

Brexit presents a huge challenge but it also presents opportunities. I am aware that our diplomatic service is availing of every opportunity to identify and establish the grounds on which we as a smaller nation can continue to prosper in the European Union, not alone but alongside similar and like-minded countries. This is a new phenomenon. We always recognised that within the European Union each of the member states had the opportunity to align themselves with others, not for destructive purposes but for the purposes of promoting the EU project and maximising the benefit for each of the member states. That continues. It is a good thing. Our diplomatic service has done exceptional work in that area and it is to be congratulated.

The question of tax harmonisation raises its ugly head fairly regularly. We need to set out a couple of parameters in respect of that. The suggestion that we have somehow achieved a preferential position within the European Union, to the exclusion of all others, is incorrect and should be rebutted at every possible opportunity. Of course there will be people who will seek to promote the suggestion that this is so. The fact of the matter is that our 12.5% tax on corporation profits applies to every cent earned in this jurisdiction. There is a serious difficulty if it is expected that we should become tax collectors for other countries within or outside of the European Union. I would like to hear the opinions of experts in that area. I cannot see other European or non-European countries wishing to become tax collectors in respect of profits earned in each other's territory, nor should that be the case.

We have enough obstacles to circumnavigate at present without taking issues upon ourselves that have a possible destructive element.

There is something else we need to learn. We are not at the centre of the European wheel, as it were, at the moment, and because we are not at the centre, the emerging situation presents us with a number of challenges, and possibly a number of opportunities, although that remains to be seen. The fact of the matter is that, on the mainland of Europe, it is possible to drive around the Continent. It is possible to deliver goods around the Continent of Europe, and to receive goods from all four corners of the EU. It is possible to trade within the Single Market without ever having to get out of a truck or aircraft. It is possible to travel around, and that is a huge benefit in terms of exporting countries. It is a great benefit to those of us within the EU who depend on trade with our neighbours and other non-EU countries. I hope that is going to be borne in mind in the course of any discussions that take place. I have no difficulty in having discussions about potential levelling of the playing field where that is required. However, it should not be done on the basis of false information, nor should it be done on the basis that we have in some way been negligent in the past in enforcing the rules insofar as they apply. We have already dealt with the double Irish issue and the various other issues that have arisen in recent years. We have also had to deal with a very serious economic challenge following the economic crash, and we did so with the help of our colleagues within the EU, but with no thanks at all to those who would seek to exploit the situation for their various benefits. We should keep that in mind in the future.

We are part of the Single Market, and that Single Market should apply in Dublin, Kildare, Cork, Kerry, Donegal, Monaghan and every part of this country, the same as it applies right at the centre of Europe. The concept of that is accepted. However, it may not be as commonly known that in the area of medicines in this country, for instance, we have never really got the benefit of the Single Market because we seem to pay a premium. Why that should be, I do not know, but the fact is we are still within the EU and the Single Market. We distribute goods to this country, and while that does not come free, we are entitled to the same price benefits as other European countries, large and small, throughout the EU, in respect of all of the goods and services we receive, and all the goods and services we deliver. Despite what some people might think, this is not all one-way traffic. We sell and trade well above and beyond our size and weight compared with most other countries. We are the UK's fifth-largest trader, trading to a greater extent with the UK than it trades with India and China combined. We have shown in the past that we are at the head of the posse when it comes to taking risks and taking on challenges, and while there are suggestions in some quarters that we are recalcitrant in some way, we are not.

There are many challenges in the modern Europe, some of them discordant, and there are some who seek to exploit the benefits of swings to the hard right or hard left. The history of Europe should remind us, and we can revisit that at any time because it is readily available, that the cost is huge. Those who suggest these things will never happen again are wrong. They have happened before, more than once or twice, and in fact many times. That they have happened repeatedly shows the inability of current generations to recognise the mistakes made by previous generations and, more particularly, to recognise the cost to their own nation and people.

There is an issue that we need to look at carefully in modern Europe. The Balkan wars happened in the past 20 years, when we saw thousands of people fleeing from whatever it was they were fleeing from. It was not from wealth, health or happiness they fled. Thankfully, nobody put up barriers to stop them or impede them. Nobody suggested they should stay at home. Nobody built walls, and God knows we have had enough experience in Europe with wall-building. Nobody put up razor wire to impede them. The reason was that we understood they had a reason for going the way they went. It is no good challenging people and saying to them that they are a threat to us. Everybody is a threat to everybody if that is the case. It is important, however, that we recognise that there is more to be gained from cohesiveness and a united approach. While I am not suggesting for a moment that we should have an open door in respect of immigration, we do have responsibilities. The civilised world has responsibilities, and if the civilised world does not accept and recognise those responsibilities, then civilisation will pay a high cost.

I am sorry for going on so long. This is my favourite subject, I am afraid to say. I thank our guests once again and wish them well in the work they have undertaken and still have to undertake. I compliment those who are engaged in supporting that work, and our colleagues throughout the EU, the 27 member states, who have stood solidly together with us in the course of the past two years when it was not always popular to do so.