Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this most serious matter that has arisen in recent days. To say that people are exercised about it would be to say very little. People in rural Ireland are wondering and concerned about the future. In rural areas such as County Kerry and west Cork, where I spent some time yesterday evening, people depend on the European Union for their existence. The EU has been responsible for much of the improvement in their way of life in the past 30 or 40 years. People dare only imagine what it would be like to return to those times.

In this context, it should be remembered that 52% of our beef exports go to Britain. What would happen if anything was to go wrong with this market? Fully 60% of our cheese production goes to the United Kingdom, 84% of our poultry exports go to the UK and 13% of total dairy products go to the UK. If anything were to happen to these markets one cannot bear or dream to imagine the effect on rural Ireland. The story is, and always was, that when farming is going bad, the country is going bad.

Another side is that business people have survived the recession and everything that brought with it. Indeed, they have gone on to be successful in exporting to London and other places in England. These people are now telling us sales are down 10% already because of the change in sterling. I hope this will recover somewhat in the coming days or in the short term. Things may stabilise and get back into shape again, and I hope that will sort it out somewhat.

Reference has been made to the tourism sector. I have been told by the hoteliers in Killarney, Dingle, Kenmare and various other places that the UK market is a major part of their income. They reckon that in the short term because sterling will not buy what the English expect it to buy, they will not come in the numbers they have been coming. Those in the industry say to me that 30% or 40% of business is from the UK and that if anything were to go wrong with that, the industry would be seriously in jeopardy.

Clearly, this is serious. I had hoped it would not happen. However, in recent weeks and months I became concerned that this was what would happen. I am different to Deputy McGrath, who is sitting beside me. He says he would not entertain another vote. I am asking that the people in the UK be given an opportunity to vote again. We were asked to do that for the Nice Treaty. This is as serious, if not far more serious. If the Ministers in the British Government could be cajoled into having another vote in a years' time and deferring the move down the road somewhat, then maybe they would change their minds.

It is clear to me why the people in England voted in this way. It was mainly to do with rules from Europe and the immigration problem. They took the view that the politicians were not listening to them and this was their way of getting the message across.

People are concerned about what this will mean for the Border. Some people have even asked me whether Dundalk would become the new Tallaght. Certainly, I have no wish to see the Border back between us and the people of Northern Ireland, because it would only bring back memories of the troubled times and what that meant for people above and below the Border. We do not want to go back to that situation, but clearly we must have a plan in place.

Like most Members, while I would welcome refugees into the country, I believe we must be able to cater for them. Thoroughly vetted refugees are no problem and we should do our best for them, but it must be remembered that at present we do not have sufficient housing for our own people. In that vein, I put a question to Kerry County Council when the suggestion came up about coping with refugees. I asked for the Taoiseach and the Government to put in place separate housing, funding and housing officials to deal with those applications, because clearly the local authorities have not had sufficient capacity or funding in recent years. This should be provided before we can entertain a major increase in the population. We must have a strategy in place to deal with anything like that.

Clearly, there are Deputies in this Chamber who, like the people in Britain, would like us to opt out of Europe. What plans have they in place if we move out or take ourselves out of Europe? I always take the view that it if we are going to leave one place, then we should have somewhere else to go. Otherwise we are going to finish up in no man's land. I am putting that question to those people. Boris Johnson and his companions were propagating the idea of getting out of Europe. However, they have gone into hiding and in the past two or three days there has been no word from them. They have no direction. All I heard Boris Johnson say was a remark about deferring it a little. Did he not think of where he would go before he advised people which way to vote?

From listening to the debates in recent weeks it is clear the British Government did not spell out all the good reasons why the UK should remain in Europe. Now, the result is going to cause havoc for the entire European Union. For this reason I am calling on the Taoiseach and his Ministers to do everything possible to talk to the Prime Minister of Britain, whether or not he is going, or else to the new fellow who takes his position. They should talk about the possibility of renegotiating and holding another vote. It is important for us to go down that route, because if other European countries ask to leave or hold a referendum, then in a short time we could have a complete break-up of the European Union. Certainly, that would not serve the people of Ireland well. I call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to do his very best to ensure that the UK people are given another crack at it. Already, some 3.5 million people have signed a petition to allow them to vote again. Perhaps someone could explain properly the pros for Europe. That should be done in a determined fashion in future.

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