Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The British people have made a major decision, albeit not one we would have wanted. This is not the time for analysing how it happened or for speculating on where it might take us in the very long term. It is about managing the issues that will be presented in the short term. Ireland has benefited enormously from EU membership. We can see it in our workers' rights code, social welfare code, women's rights and across our economy. It has also allowed us to become much more resilient as an economy, and we are in a much better place to deal with such a decision than we would ever have been in the past. We have taken the opportunity to diversify our exports considerably away from the UK market and we are in a position to deal with it in a way that we would not have been in the past.

The mechanisms through which it will impact on the Irish economy will be complex and many of the decisions are still two years away as the process continues. In the immediate term, the exchange rate will impact on our exporters and this will create difficulties. In recent years, Enterprise Ireland has developed policy tools to help companies diversify their markets and develop a lean approach to the delivery of services and goods. This programme will make a significant impact on helping companies deal with the issues that are thrown up.

The most significant risk we face is not on the economic front, if all sides approach it in a rational way. There is major interdependence between Britain, Ireland and Europe. Each one has a major interest in maintaining reasonably open trade channels and flows. We must seek good, mature and responsible leadership from all elements including Europe, Britain and our own role which we must play. Some of the indications from Europe during recent days, seeking a very sudden activation of the British withdrawal process, were not well judged. We must approach this calmly and allow the time for Britain to make decisions with the vacuum created by the resignation of the British Tory leader. It is important that this time is made available. It is also very important that the political vacuum which could arise in the UK is filled as quickly as possible.

The responsible leaders on the leave side must step forward and recognise that their approach to these negotiations will be crucial to the stability of the British, Irish and European economies. There are issues to be worked through, some of which, as Deputy Timmy Dooley said, are complex. The energy sector will be complex. It is in nobody's interest for us to create major obstacles to trading relationships between these islands or an obstruction to the free flow we have enjoyed between Ireland and the UK. All parties have a very important role to ensure that during this period, when there is a political vacuum, we act in a careful way.

I was disappointed with Sinn Féin's immediate call for a poll on Irish unity and the Border. Given that there was recently a general election in Northern Ireland and that the Good Friday Agreement sets out how it should be approached, it is difficult not to interpret Sinn Féin's call as political opportunism at a time when we need a calm, reassuring approach to people of different interests to assure them it can be managed to all of our mutual interests.

The Irish Government will play a pivotal role. Our deep friendship with Britain has never been stronger. Our deep connections with the EU, forged during recent years through one of the most difficult crises the EU has ever faced, has put our Government and the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, in a very strong position to influence, for the good of the Irish people, the outcome of the difficult negotiations that lie ahead. Although we would have preferred if the British people had decided otherwise, I approach this with confidence. We are in a position to, and will, manage the consequences of the decision carefully, in the interests of all the people of these islands.

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