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

In this particular time, we have an obligation to engage and take into account issues arising outside this jurisdiction, in Europe and the global community. Maybe the Minister of State will make a general comment on that because we have wider responsibilities and cannot retreat into our own little nook and fail to observe that things are happening abroad that some believe we have no responsibility to address, although we do. Today's crisis in the wider global sense could be tomorrow's crisis on our doorstep. We need to keep that in mind and context all the time. We also need to ensure that anything that happens here is not seen as a disincentive to people to come, invest and work here. We have a duty to ourselves and the European Union in this regard. Regardless of whether the European Union is at one, and whether it may seem unfair to burden one or another country with the fallout of circumstances outside its control, which we have seen in the past, we must recognise and have a meaningful input into the situation as it emerges. I have another issue I will comment on at a later stage.