Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

On behalf of the Fine Gael party I welcome the President of the European Parliament, Mr. Cox, to the Seanad this morning, and I thank him for an interesting and inspiring address. One of Mr. Cox's colleagues, Mr. Joe McCartin MEP, was with us yesterday, and I was struck by his remark that when he first entered the European Parliament 24 years ago, many of the people he served with were the sons and daughters of people who had been slaughtered in the Second World War. He made the point that as we move further away from the last century and the terrible tragedy of two world wars on the Continent of Europe, we lose sight of that tragedy and forget about it.