Mr. Bertie Ahern:

-----because they do not have any concept that they are entitled. That is an important thing. If we are bringing people in and they are working and paying their taxes - many of them have been here for 20 years - and they feel they have no right to vote, that seems to me a very obvious area of correction that should be dealt with.

If she were here today, Angela Merkel would say that she tried to do a big thing on immigration. She just accepted millions into her country and really tried to take a very progressive view on it, not that she or her colleagues got much thanks for their efforts. That will probably feature a lot in the minds of current and future leaders. She took the bigger picture that these people were fleeing for economic reasons, not just reasons of war and conflict. She did try to take that view. I know for a fact she feels very sore that it was not something seen by her own population or wider populations, that is, the view of a leader who took a huge positive role in trying to deal with the issue that was on everybody's doorstep.

There is one thing I notice on all these issues about Europe. A long time ago, when I was Minister for Labour, I sat on the social affairs council and ECOFIN when we were dealing with Maastricht and the early referendums. The big debate in this House at that time was about what Europe was doing about unemployment. We had 20% unemployment. The labour market was growing by 2% and immigration reflected the 2% of the labour market. People were asking what Europe was doing about unemployment. It is fair to look back now, as I am doing today doing 20 years later. We have gone through this debate this morning hardly mentioning the word "unemployment". It is the same all the time. The fact is that it has been European economic policies that have controlled inflation and interest rates, notwithstanding the currency crisis and the crash crisis, which was partly domestic and partly international. Europe has done an enormous amount to create that. It has changed and alleviated poverty.

When I look at the areas we pass when we come to Leinster House along the quays and docklands by the Custom House, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and International Financial Services Centre were initiatives that were done by domestic governments but with the permission of Europe. It changed unemployment in this country. There are big positive issues we should not just pass over.