Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak on this hugely important issue. It is amazing to see how things have unfolded in recent days. We have gone from a position whereby everyone in our neighbouring island was being advised there was nothing to fear, that everything would be okay for two years at least and there would be no consequences in the immediate aftermath. Of course, that is not true. The markets have now shown clearly what happens in a situation such as this.

There was a hankering for going back to the way we were. There was an element in the debate that took place in the UK and other European countries - even on occasion in this country - of going back to where we were and re-establishing what was the case in times gone by. We should be very careful when we want to go back there because, as the previous speaker just alluded to, where we were in the 1930s and into the 1940s was not a very nice place to be. It came about as a result of a rejection of what was referred to at that time as the elitism of traditional governments, establishment parties and austerity. All these phrases were used in the 1930s, word-for-word exactly as they have been used in recent years in this House as well as in others across Europe.

If Europe is heading down that road, it should take a deep breath. By Europe I mean each of the member states within the Union - all of the public representatives elected within the Union's member states as well.

Many years ago John Donne wrote:

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

Importantly - he must have been thinking of this situation - he continued:

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

He finished by saying:

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

I would hope there is a lesson to be learnt from the events of the past week. The lesson is one of deep and careful thought; no jumping to conclusions; no seeking of political advantage; no opportunism; and no condemnation of those who appear to have made this mistake, which may be the first of many mistakes. It is now a time for deep and careful thought.

From our point of view there are consequences, much more serious than we have seen unfold just yet. However, it is our duty as democrats and as Europeans to offer support to our near neighbours; support to our friends in Northern Ireland; support to the people of Scotland; and support to those who stand for democracy, have shown they can work democracy and have stood by it at its most challenged times. We need to do all those things once again now. If we have to go through the lesson of the 1930s all over again, it is a very high price to pay. While we in this country are not without fault, how many times in recent years have we blamed every negative thing that happened in the country on the bureaucracy in Brussels? It cannot always be that. We never mentioned in the same breath the benefits gained.

While some may rejoice at the situation now presenting, I would hope they do not do so for long. We need to remember what happened in the 1930s when the hard right and the hard left eventually came together in common cause. What were they called in one case? It was called National Socialism, well mentioned in the annals at the time.

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