Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to contribute to the debate on the Brexit vote in the UK last Thursday. Much has been said over the last weekend to attack people who, like myself, supported the Brexit campaign for leaving the EU on the basis that we aligned ourselves with the far right and people such as Nigel Farage in the debate. However, there is far more to it than that. That type of knee-jerk dismissal of 17 million people in the UK who voted to leave the European Union and the reaction to the vote will do nothing to deal with the issues that arose in the campaign.

I know from talking to people who campaigned in the referendum that many of those who voted for Brexit were working in the peace movement and were concerned about militarisation, not only British militarisation but also European Union militarisation, and voted against the EU on that basis. Much has been made of the fact that people in working class areas voted to leave the European Union and it is claimed that working class people are all right wing for doing so. However, Boris Johnson is not from a working class background, nor is Nigel Farage. People in working class areas have seen how the neoliberalism of the British Government and of the European Union has destroyed them, piled inequality on top of inequality and left them in a situation where they have been left behind not only in the UK, but also in the European Union. All of the people who had those reasons to vote against the European Union only needed to make up less than 10% of the vote that was cast to make the crucial decision for the UK to leave. It is not good enough just to dismiss people who voted for Brexit on that basis. That is the type of arrogance in attitude that will lead to other countries voting to leave the Union at some stage in the future.

Undoubtedly, there is a huge amount of uncertainty. That was clear from the meeting we had with the Taoiseach on Friday and from his speech to the House today. Nobody really knows what will happen now and how Brexit will look when it takes place. It is vital that our Government puts Irish interests first, something our Governments have not been good at doing in the European context. Our Government has been too quick to roll over and lie down when it comes to European interests and the elites in Europe. The UK has the fifth biggest economy in the world. It has a history of colonialism, like many of the major European powers. The UK is big enough to be able to push for a deal for itself with the European Union. People in Ireland should know from the last six or seven years that within Europe might is right. If a country is too big to fail it will be saved, as happened with Italy and Spain. If a county is big and powerful economically, as Germany is, it can call the shots. The UK, being the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world, will be big enough to do a deal with the European Union that will benefit itself. It will be dressed up. We hear language from Europe about it being hardline and so forth with the UK, but ultimately the Union will negotiate with the UK and they will negotiate as equals.

We must look after Irish interests. Even though the Government says, and it might be the case, that there is a recognition within Europe that Ireland is in a special situation because of the Border on the island of Ireland, I do not believe that our Government will put our interests first. That is unfortunate, both for people in this country and for people in the Six Counties who will be left there when the UK pulls out. I hope the Government will put our interests first, that it will stand up for them and fight hard to ensure they are looked after. However, it should be remembered during its discussions with the European Union that this is the EU that overthrew two democratically elected governments in the past seven years, in Greece and in Italy. It is the same European Union that threatened economic warfare against Ireland if it dared to burn the bondholders in our bank bailout, threatening that an economic bomb would go off in Dublin. That must be borne in mind when negotiating with the European Union on its recognising Ireland's so-called special case.

I believe that, ultimately, the EU will not recognise much that relates to us. It will be a question of large economies such as Germany, France and England doing deals among themselves to look after their own interests. Keep our interests to the fore when dealing with this issue, and deal with the European Union on that basis. The only way we will be looked after is if we look after our own interests.

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