Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

I am coming to an end now. This has resonances of what happened in France during one of the referenda on Lisbon, when the former French President, Valéry Giscard d'Estaigne, said the matter was too important to be left to the French people. Referenda are not a threat to governments; they strengthen their position in appalling situations like the one we are in at the moment. We are in a corner so we must look to the people to give us the strength to go forward and renegotiate the deal. Let us not be frightened of them giving the result we do not want. Let us look to them to give us the muscle to say "No" to the deal and to renegotiate it downwards.

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