Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank all for their contributions in the past eight months. I thank the leaders of all of the groups for the constructive manner in which debates have been conducted.

I wish to refer to democracy. It is easy to criticise how we do our business, but we should value the fact that we have a good democratic system in this country. I accept there may need to be changes but let us compare our situation to that of a country I visited where the Government enjoyed the support of only 2% of the population because it controlled the country by the use of arms. From a European point of view, this day 70 years ago all the young people in Europe were in trenches facing one another in a war. In the first 50 years of the previous century, more than 67 million people died in two world wars. Now one can travel from the Dingle Peninsula to the Russian border without fear of conflict. That is because the democratic system has been developed and has grown. It is about working together. We might criticise what Europe does but we all have a part to play. We should note that there are 80 million people in the European Union under 14 years of age. That is the population for whom we are now working in real terms. It is important that we preserve the democratic system, appreciate it and continue to improve it. We all have a part to play.

When I became lord mayor of Cork city in 2003 one of the things I decided to do was to visit every one of the 102 schools in the city. I decided to do something different and went to Kenya for a week. In that year — 2003 — free primary education was introduced there for the first time. A total of 1.7 million turned up for school for the first time. I went to hospitals which had no electricity or water supply yet they were able to carry out 2,500 operations a year. We have a good democratic system in this country and good services. We must continue to improve and grow them. I accept we have a problem with unemployment. We can tackle those issues and we have a duty to do so. It is important that we do it in a constructive way and achieve a positive result for all of the people in this country. Let us appreciate the democratic system we have here, the system that has been built up in Europe and the achievements we have brought about in a short period. I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a very peaceful 2012.