Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach pointed out that four out of five people had voted to join the European Economic Community. I was one year old at the time and obviously did not have a vote, but if I had been old enough to vote at the time, I would have voted to join the European Economic Community. The concept of independent - it is important to remember that word - nations working together for the benefit of all had to be good. How could one have argued against it? However, it did not stay like that and the problem is that we are now heading towards a European super state, something with which I believe the people do not agree. If we were to have a proper debate on the end game in terms of where we are going in Europe, I believe people in Ireland would not be too fond of it. Four out of five people may well have voted in favour of joining the European Economic Community, but in recent years it has not been quite that easy to have referendums passed. There is a problem from a democratic point of view with the way many referendums, including those on the Nice and Lisbon treaties, have been run. If the people proposing that we vote in favour do not get their way, those who vote against are rather insultingly told that they do so because they do not understand what is involved. Is it possible that those who voted "Yes" in these referendums did not understand? People involved in the "No" campaigns argued constantly that we were heading for a European super state, but they were told it was propaganda. People like Giscard d'Estaing were quoted and it was thrown back at the "No" side that that would not happen. I thought it was propaganda at the time and, unfortunately, that has been proved correct. The "No" campaigners were right. We are heading straight towards a super state in which we will have virtually no power.

Schuman was quoted and the word "solidarity" was mentioned. The Tánaiste has said we have benefited from solidarity. Where was the solidarity, however, when we had the guts of €70 billion worth of debt rammed down our throats? Where is the solidarity in Europe when there is virtually no unemployment in Germany and we have massive unemployment here? The German state is benefiting massively from the eurozone. However, we are not benefiting from it because when interest rates do not suit us but do suit Germany, it gets its way. We have lost the levers of control in our own country.

We will be told by people in the farming community, particularly the Irish Farmers' Association, that we have benefited through the Common Agricultural Policy. In terms of what the policy has achieved, it is turning farmers into prostitutes. They are now dependent on that income and cannot find another way. The Tánaiste has said there is a massive financial benefit under the CAP. This time around we are looking at a figure of just over €1 billion. Every year - the figures are available - we lose €1 billion because of the loss of our fishing rights. Add the €2 billion extra in value we could achieve in processing and we lose €3 billion. When this figure is put against what we gain under the CAP, it does not seem that attractive.

At a showcase on the reason the European Union is so wonderful and why we would all be living in caves if we had not joined it, organised by Leviathan and attended by the Minister of State, Deputy Lucinda Creighton, I heard that we would not have women's rights if we were not in the European Community, the European Union or whatever it is called nowadays. The reality is we would have had women's rights if Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the two main political parties in this country, had had some backbone and stood up for women and not waited for someone else to do so.

This week we saw a new law proposed by the European Commission under which it will be illegal to grow, reproduce or trade vegetable seeds that have not been tested, approved and accepted. That someone would be forced to do this is over the top.

Tomorrow morning in Listowel turf cutters will be dragged before the court for trying to keep their homes warm. The propaganda machine is travelling around the country to make it sound all right. I attended one of the debates. It cost €9,250 to hold the meeting in Athlone. I also spoke on local radio stations. People had not been told about it and, therefore, no money was spent on advertising.

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