Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate. Let us consider the various news reports throughout the world not only from the island of Ireland or the island of Britain but from throughout the world. Brexit is the No. 1 item in the news. A raft of issues arise. Among the raft of fears is the concern for self-preservation in terms of our island and the industry that depends on exports to the UK. Numerous concerns have been raised in this regard. Concerns have been raised for the agriculture industry as well as small indigenous industries exporting to the UK. How will the changes manifest themselves in the short term, medium term and long term?

Then there is the question of the future of Europe, how Europe will adapt to what happened last Thursday in the United Kingdom and how Europe needs to change. There has been much discussion from various contributors during the debate on the question of why the British people decided to exit Europe. Let us consider the pros of what Europe has done. We need to go back to the start to understand. The European Union came together immediately after the savagery of the Second World War. We are coming up to the centenary. This has been flagged in various television programmes. "Nationwide" is beginning a series on 100 years on from the Somme. The savagery throughout Europe during the First World War and Second World War was extraordinary. The European Union came together to ensure that we would have a peaceful Europe. As the memories of the terrible atrocities that happened during the Second World War fade we may have come to believe that the European Union has outgrown its usefulness. Unfortunately, however, that is not the case. Now, more than ever, we need a fundamental strong Europe. We need a Europe that takes into consideration each member state and the contribution that each member state makes to people and to a larger Europe.

Let us consider the overall context. Two dates in particular are relevant. The first is 1929 when the Wall Street crash occurred. In turn, this led to the onslaught of the Great Depression throughout the 1930s. How did that affect people? There were bread lines not only in the United States but in England too right up until 1937 and 1938.

Many historians would argue that it was the onset of war that brought us out of that Great Depression. The point I am making is that extremism developed during the 1930s as a result of the 1929 Wall Street crash. If one looks at what is happening today throughout the world, with extremism and looking inward and protecting oneself, there is a huge parallel with what happened in the 1930s and after the financial collapse of 2008.

We heard politicians here today talk about the populist rhetoric of people such as Boris Johnson. After the 2008 crash, populism featured and it was suggested that there was an easy and quick solution to what had happened. Throughout the European Union, as well as throughout the island of Ireland and elsewhere, we need to ensure we do not play to fears or concerns. We should not close ourselves off.

One of the greatest feats of modern times was that in the 1930s when the rest of Europe was going down the fascist route and huge crowds were following that ideology, Ireland wrote its own democratic Constitution, now one of the oldest democratic constitutions in Europe and we have to be true to that. We also have to be true to the people we represent and address the fundamental concerns that exist. We have to challenge Europe. The overall concept is very good for the entire European Union as I consider it. There is a lot of stuff that comes in that we have to accept for the greater good. There is a lot of bureaucracy and red tape that is, I suppose, gold-plated when it comes to member states but it has to be challenged as well.

The world seems to be going down the extremism route as it did in the 1930s after the last great economic crash. We have heard many excellent speeches today, particularly that given by our leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, on how Europe has to be maintained as a strong entity. I recently met a person in Brussels. We were talking about the monstrosity of bureaucracy. That person made the point that it was better than killing each other. The Union was born out of the two World Wars and it has served us well. We need to ensure we do not talk it down. We must ensure that our interest as an island nation, both North and South, is best protected within the Union.

See this speech in context