Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that this debate is taking place in the shadow of the murder of Jo Cox, MP, last week, as she was one of those who had argued for a vote for Britain to remain in the EU in this week's referendum.

The European Union was founded in the aftermath of two dreadful world wars and a period of fascism which saw many millions of people killed. The aim was to bring Europeans together to provide not just common markets but also a framework for prosperity and growth that would enable ordinary people in all European countries to live well and be employed and allow their children to get a decent education and progress. Countries would focus on having good primary social services, whether in health or education, alongside economies that would thrive and include public and private sectors.

What we have seen, and what faces the Taoiseach and his fellow members of the European People's Party, is a slow but steady drift of that broad European ideal to the right in several European countries in very difficult economic circumstances, the most scandalous and difficult of which is the widespread unemployment of young people. Many of those countries are prosperous enough on paper and some, like ours, are either in recovery or still in the depths of economic crashes and difficulties. It is understandable that people in many European countries feel that things they or their parents took for granted - constant and continuous incremental improvements in their lifestyle - are put under threat by changes that appear to come from a very remote location, Brussels, and from a leadership that is quite remote from most people, including those in their home countries. It is difficult to convey to anyone who goes to Europe as a Commissioner, as many from here have, that it does not reach citizens and there is a need for a profound change of style in respect of the European leadership. We have had so many and such frequent referendums in this country on major European changes that we are politically used to having to make the case, explain the advantages and likely disadvantages and help people weigh in the balance how they wish to cast their vote. I hope a majority of citizens in the UK, including people of Irish extraction who may be voting this week, will vote to stay. For many, given the difficulties they have experienced, it is a difficult choice and they feel threatened.

What is the Irish Government’s plan B if the vote does not go as the majority of parties here have urged? It will certainly cause a degree of shock and give rise to change. While I know the Government has been active and I asked the Taoiseach some time ago to have debates here on Brexit, I wonder whether there is a plan B.

I mention the murder of Jo Cox because there has been a development in politics of a language of hate as opposed to a language of argument. Everyone understands that politics involves argument, discussion, making choices and reaching decisions in everybody’s best interests. On the extreme right, however, no more than on the extreme left, there is a language of hate which is corroding most of our democracies and inhibiting good discussion that would help us reach better decisions. I have spoken about the spaces on social media which have sought, for instance, to demonise women, in particular, from a wide range of parties who are involved in politics. I know from extensive studies carried out by The Guardianunder the campaign entitled The Web We Want that approximately 80% of hate posts are directed against female parliamentarians and approximately 20% against male parliamentarians. If there is an opportunity to discuss this at Council level, it is important that we, as people involved in politics, think about how we might press the pause button on hate speech and vilification, which many - including, unfortunately, some in Ireland and indeed some who have been in the Dáil - resort to, rather than reasoned argument, explanation or persuasion. Argument can be very robust, but when we look back at the 1930s in Europe and the writers of that period and consider what gave rise to fascism, we see that much of what was said was to do with allowing a tone of hatred and vilification come to dominate public discourse. In that case, all of the ills of the world, particularly in Germany, were identified as originating with people who were Jewish and the campaign of vilification and hatred at that time was towards Jewish people. What will happen in respect of Europe this week is very important. Whatever happens, whether it is a narrow win or a loss, the European Union will be changed forever.

Given that we are, in many ways, Britain's closest neighbour and have extremely close family ties, I would like to suggest to the Taoiseach that perhaps he should use the result, whatever it is, as an opportunity to have a discussion about where Europe is at now. He should focus in particular on whether Europe is an entity that represents the aspirations of ordinary citizens or has been captured by people who are simply interested in business.

Business has its place and is very important. Foreign direct investment has been the keystone of the recovery of the Irish economy. In fact, what distinguished Ireland from other economies during our recent difficulties was the fact that we continued to have a very active foreign direct investment programme into Ireland. In many ways, it kept the Irish economy going, helped to improve it and enabled it to recover during the most difficult period.

There needs to be a discussion because if the European Union put forward further referendum proposals to this country, based on some of the ideals that have been put forward over the past few years in terms of ever-closer union, I am genuinely not sure that people in Ireland would accept any of that. Those of us who support the European Union, in particular women, are conscious of the fact that in a conservative society, as Ireland was in the 1970s, the ideas of the European Union, such as those relating to the equality and rights of women and workers, were an absolute breath of fresh air and were not deliverable at that time in an Irish context. The European Council should pause for reflection.

Europe has the resources to address the refugee crisis. In the middle of the crisis, Angela Merkel chose to invite people to Germany and said in a very trenchant way that Germany could deal with the people coming in. It is always difficult for people anywhere to have new people integrate among them but Angela Merkel is very clear-headed about that.

There have been scenes on the borders of Europe which are not acceptable. We have not seen such scenes since the height of the Second World War. We need to ensure that we play our part. When in government, I made a commitment that we would accept up to 4,500 asylum seekers and refugees and I regret to say that still has not been implemented. I would like the Taoiseach to tell us when he envisages that we will take our responsibilities in that respect seriously.

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