Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Brien for his questions. With regard to the Brexit business, I never understood why the title is as it is because British exit is not a positive term, if I can put it that way. It is actually a choice being made by the British electorate. I have heard some comments from the MP, Mr. Dodds, and the Northern Ireland First Minister, Ms Arlene Foster, with regard to comments I made in London yesterday. I am very much aware that the decision is one for the British electorate, for those in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. However, it is not the same as the referendum on independence in Scotland because this country has an interest in it. It is a critical decision to be made by the British electorate in respect of the European Union, Britain and Ireland in the context of our relations with Northern Ireland. Deputy O'Brien has pointed out some of these details.

Far be it from me to try to direct the British electorate or the electorate of the United Kingdom as to what way they should vote; it is their choice and their decision. However, it is important to note that there are significant numbers of Irish citizens living in Britain. Owing to the common travel area, many of them have been there for many years. Therefore, we have an interest in this. It is also important to note that €1 billion in trade is conducted across the Irish Sea every week. Britain is the biggest purchaser of food from Ireland, as we are of their produce. Many other issues arise from a common travel area. While we cannot direct the electorate on what to do when they go to vote, it is important that we set out how critical is this issue. I repeat that it is not for me to direct the British electorate, but it is important to state the importance of the decision to be made. People should be properly and fully informed.

Deputy O'Brien pointed out a number of issues about cross-Border bodies and so on. For instance, we agreed fully that the Chancellor of the Exchequer should give the Northern Ireland Executive the right to reduce corporation tax rate in Northern Ireland to something approaching or the same as the corporate tax rate here. That would make the economic entity of Ireland, from a foreign direct investment point of view, an island attraction in its own right.

To be honest, following the discussion I had with the Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, yesterday, I am unsure whether it will be possible to conclude this set of agreements at the February meeting. There is progress to be made on all of the four issues. Progress can be made and I believe the matter can be concluded successfully. The UK Prime Minister has made it clear that it is his call regarding when he chooses to have a referendum. He said that if the deal is not clear enough or strong enough, he has time and can wait until some time before the end of 2017 to have a referendum.

The European Council is where leaders discuss concessions, changes or reforms. We all support the Single Market, the digital market, getting rid of red tape in administration and the development of trade links with TTIP and other locations throughout the world where opportunities exist. It is important that all of Europe would benefit from the changes and reforms that are being made here. It is not a case of saying that we have considered all of this and we give particular concessions to any leader around the table. We are members of the European Union. I would like Britain to continue to remain a strong and central member of that because of the power and the opportunity that comes from having 500 million people in a trading bloc with enormous potential.

I cannot say to Deputy O'Brien that it will be finished by the February meeting. Mr. Tusk, the President of the Council, will circulate his paper next week. It will deal with the discussions that have taken place following the December meeting, at which the UK Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, tabled his four baskets, as it were, the issues of sovereignty, competitiveness, welfare and so on. In the meantime, we will continue to discuss the issue with colleagues in Brussels and Britain to see what progress might be made.

This is connected with the migration issue as well. Let us suppose the current numbers were to continue and the UK held a referendum on continued British membership of the Union in June or July. That is the time of year when numbers would be heaviest, if migration continued across the Mediterranean. It is a matter for the British Prime Minister when he wants to call the referendum.

The refugee crisis is taking up practically all the time at the meetings. It a really complicated and serious issue now. We get reports from the EU High Representative, Ms Mogherini. Some 1.2 million people have gone into south Lebanon, 25% of the Lebanese population is now Syrian and 1.2 million are in Jordan. The Prime Minister held a special event for the King of Jordan in respect of the camps there. The Union responded with a €3 billion initial fund in respect of Turkey, which has a little over 2 million refugees. Obviously, the numbers are exceptionally difficult to pin down.

A great deal of work needs to be done from a European point of view on these hotspots in respect of registration and what we do if people turn up to the hotspots where people are registered and identified. Are they to stay there in camps that the countries concerned provide? Are they to dissipate throughout the countries of the Schengen area? These are extraordinary challenges. Yet, as Deputy O'Brien has pointed out, when we see the pictures of grossly over-laden and overloaded dinghies, ribs and other craft, we can see for ourselves the scale of what is involved. Let us imagine all of Connacht and all those right down through Munster to Cork walking to Dublin and trying to cross the Irish Sea in rickety boats or whatever. It is a human movement of enormous consequences.

At the Holocaust commemorations which the Ceann Comhairle attended on Sunday, there were examples involving the MS St. Louisin 1938. The vessel went to America with 900 passengers who assumed they would be given visa entry but they were not. They had to come back again on another boat that went to Turkey and over 700 died. So many years on we have replications in some ways of what happened then.

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