Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the members of the delegation and compliment them on the work they are doing in liaising with their colleagues in Europe. The importance of that work needs to be emphasised. It is extremely important for parliamentarians and local authority members across Europe to interact with each other in order to be up to speed on what affects them in their own place. That gives them an opportunity to draw comparisons, and I know the members of the delegation are doing that. Instead of isolating themselves from the rest of Europe and withdrawing into their respective corners, they have done the opposite. The Committee of the Regions, in general, has done tremendous work in bringing to the attention of all the authorities the importance of equal participation and co-operation.

The benefits of remaining in the EU have been well and truly discussed here and elsewhere. I am sure they have been discussed among the various council groups as well. Maybe we have come to realise the importance of what we have. Possibly we have also come to recognise the cost of achieving what we have achieved. It did not happen overnight. It was not simple. It happened over many years and with substantial costs. The Europe that is presented to us today is a far cry from the Europe of 1945, when previous experiments had gone wrong and a price had needed to be paid by millions of people. It is no harm to reflect on that now.

In the context of the debate we have had over the past couple of years, it is no harm to reflect on the importance of the North of Ireland and the South of Ireland to each other. I am not talking about the North or the South overcoming the other or subsuming the other. I am talking about the North and the South co-operating in joint activity and trade and commerce and moving as a single unit. As the witnesses will be aware, that has been a feature of the debate to date. I hope that will continue to be the case. If we are to be truly representative of the island of Ireland, those of us on this part of the island must be absolutely familiar with the concerns of our colleagues in Northern Ireland. We must be equally committed to ensuring the spirit and the letter of the Good Friday Agreement continues in place without interruption.

This is a time for reflection on the degree to which we have co-operated in the past with our colleagues across the Irish Sea. We should also bear in mind the importance of the single economic entity that exists and the common travel area. We hope that as a result of recent discussions, the future in that area will be guaranteed. We sincerely hope so. I believe that even if there is a temporary hiccup, eventually wiser heads will prevail and we will reap the rewards of the foresight and thinking of those who foresaw the development of Europe from the ashes of the past, who looked into the future and who made the necessary sacrifices and commitments.

There are challenges all over the globe now. I have always had a feeling that every 100 years or so, people across the globe become restive, begin to covet what others have and wonder how better they can get on at the expense of others. These discordant notes are arising throughout Europe and throughout the world at the present time. They are not consistent with peace, co-operation and peaceful coexistence. On every occasion in the past when this kind of discordant activity arose, there was a huge price for everybody to pay. We know the witnesses have been doing their part to ensure discordant and unhelpful voices are addressed, if not necessarily confronted, in a way that makes them hesitate and ponder where they might go next. We compliment them on that.