Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Those who wish to get involved in the exaggerated arguments of the past will not deserve the respect of the Irish people. They will not persuade them in any case because I believe in the discernment and common sense of our people to recognise that over the past 35 years, the one thing to which we can point, apart from good policy making in the main, has been the framework that the EU has provided for us to open up not only economically and socially but psychologically and in other ways. We are now a country that is very much part of what the EU is about. It is a force for good in the world that is trying to bring a greater sense of solidarity, not just within Europe.

Where would the Europe of today be if we did not have an entity called the European Union after the implosion of communism? The progressive democratic forces of those countries most affected by the implosion could tell their people that they had something to which they could aspire, which would adhere to the rule of law, which would respect individual rights and which would ensure that people could seek progress in a pluralist democracy that had been denied to them since 1945 when the Iron Curtain came down.

The young people of this country realise that many of the problems that affect them today are transnational in nature, whether it is climate change, environmental sustainability or sustainable economic development. We can only tackle those problems working with others rather than on our own. Let us leave the isolationists to themselves over there in the far corner, outlining their visions of the future as if the Irish people will not be capable of defending themselves, working their way through the issues and progressing as we have done for the past 35 years. We have more confidence in the Irish people than that, which is the positive message we should get out. I am not interested in the exaggerated arguments of the naysayers.

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