Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I congratulate President Cox on his very impressive address to the Seanad this morning and thank him for coming to visit us and share his distillled knowledge in this area at this very important time for our country. I have two points to make. One is a comment and I would like to know whether the President agrees or disagrees with it. The second is a direct question.

From my knowledge of Europe, its raison d'être was to ensure that a lid was kept on the neo-nationalism that unfortunately brought about two world wars over the past 100 years. Would the President agree it is an example of the current failure of Europe that in the most recent elections throughout the European Union there has been a persistent rise in support for neo-nationalist parties and ostensibly right-wing parties with a very strong neo-nationalist agenda? I refer to the rise of the Freedom Party in Austria, the significant support for Jean-Marie Le Pen in the presidential election in France, the marginal rise of the BNP in Britain, and the rise of Sinn Féin in our own State as a neo-nationalist party. This phenomenon over the past five years is pointing to a continual failure by us all and the European Parliament to keep a lid on those very nationalisms that brought about the devastation of two world wars. What are we doing about that?