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

The European project is not something we should just mention once a year, on Europe Day, and move on. The European project is significant, important and cannot be taken for granted, and we should be willing to improve on it consistently. However, Brexit resulted in a huge nation leaving the European Union.

We have to ask why that happened and could it potentially happen again in other countries in no longer looking at Europe positively but negatively. That is primarily because political choices might be made in smaller nations that might elect governments on the extreme left or right, as has been the case in some countries. It is something about which we should remain constantly concerned.

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