Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I quote Mr. Winston Churchill: "To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day." Last Thursday, in those terms, that quote is something that could come true. When we look at the European project and what it was established for and the success to date in achieving peace across a Continent that has warred between various powers for over a century, we see an indication of its success.

I believe Europe today is under threat. It is under threat from those on the left and those on the right who, very often and for different reasons, combine around a common cause. For example, in the context of austerity, many people attacked the EU for imposing austerity in certain member states. There is no doubt that it did. Ireland itself was one of those countries that suffered in terms of the imposition of austerity on the people with regard to the banking debt. What people fail to realise is that the UK itself is not a member of the eurozone. It did not experience the same level of austerity that was imposed on other nations because it was outside of the eurozone. Many of the decisions that were made in terms of cuts to budgets and public services were as a direct result of Conservative governments in the UK. I believe we have to be very conscious when loosely throwing words and slogans about austerity around the place that we decipher the myths from the reality. There is no way that one can blame the EU project for the impact of cuts in services in Newcastle, Sunderland, parts of the valleys in Wales and right across the UK.

The success of the European project can be shown by the fact that people in war-torn parts of Syria see Europe as a beacon. They see it as a place in which they can seek refuge, support and services and from which they can hopefully return home at a later stage. The European project has singularly been a huge success and sends a strong light across the rest of the world. When nationalism is parked up and states come together to co-operate, pool their resources and skills and work together in harmony and peace for the betterment of their people, it can be a success. I believe that any casual assessment of the European project since its inception would show that it has been a success.

Workers have been the greatest beneficiaries of the European project. Most of the health and safety and employment rights and most of the legislation that national parliaments have passed over the last 20 years have been at the prompting of the EU. It has forced national government s to accept that workers have a fundamental right to basic levels of pay and protection, both in terms of remuneration and health and safety. We have very casually brushed those successes aside because we may not be happy with a certain decision that the EU has foisted on an individual country. Overall, the project itself has been very successful.

There has been a huge failing in an EU context in the democratic deficit that is often highlighted. Very often people raise it as a problem, but just as often they do not come up with any solutions to address it. Equally, member states are slow to praise the EU and quick to castigate it. Any time there is an unpopular decision, be it in this House or in any national parliament across the EU when the EU directives are being implemented, we blame the EU itself. Member states and member governments have an uncanny knack of doing that. At the same time, the overarching principles of the EU have served us well.

I regret hugely the decision of the UK to vote to leave. When it is broken down into the member nations, Wales and England were the two countries that rejected membership of the EU. There is no doubt that there is a certain element of nationalistic pique in the decision that was made. We have to deal with what has been thrown up in terms of what we must do as a country. This is no time, as the leader of the party pointed out, to give England a bloody nose. We as a nation have huge obligations to the people in Northern Ireland and across Europe to ensure that whatever decisions are arrived at in negotiations, we must try to accommodate those who live on this island to ensure that there is no hard border and no imposition of customs, securities and tariffs that could impact the daily lives of people North and South.

The EU has been a great supporter of the peace process in Northern Ireland. We owe it to ourselves, to the people in the North and, just as importantly, to Europe itself, to ensure that it has the capacity and the wherewithal to withstand this potential threat both in the context of Brexit as well as in the broader issue of threats from the left and the right, who seek to bring it down and revert to a nationalistic Europe, something that served nobody well over the past 100 years.

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