Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for his contribution. It is only fitting that I join in the many expressions of grief and sympathy following the assassination of Jo Cox last week. Regardless of the outcome of tomorrow's referendum in Britain, the campaign will be forever remembered as the backdrop to the brutal murder of an excellent Member of Parliament, a loving mother and a dedicated wife.

With less than 48 hours to go in the campaign on British membership of the European Union, many will have made up their minds and many more will have already voted through postal ballot. At this stage, we must start to address the range of issues and challenges that this campaign has presented. I request that the Minister return to the House next week to take what will perhaps be more reflective statements on European Union–United Kingdom relations in the wake of the results, as is being done in many other member state parliaments and assemblies. We need to prepare the EU for change. Regardless of the result of this referendum, it is clear that the EU needs to change. For me, growing up in 1980s Ireland, the European project represented something big but still tangible. Our copybooks were adorned with maps of the then EEC countries so that we could learn off their capital cities and perhaps dream about visiting those countries with ease, on holidays with our families in France or Spain, or perhaps even working in some of the great cities of the world, such as Rome or Amsterdam. It was impossible to drive down any new road in Ireland without seeing - and rightly so - huge signage plastered with the European flag, informing us that the new roads were being built with the assistance of Structural Funds.

For older generations, my parents and my grandparents, the European project represented something a lot simpler, namely, bringing peace to our continent for the longest continual period in history: no more ration books, no more air raids, no more fear of men and women being once more called up to "do their duty".

Unfortunately, the contemporary EU has drifted. It has become the very definition of meddling bureaucracy and micro-intervention, an entity whose image is one obsessed with regulating and intervening in the areas and issues that are removed from so many people's daily lives. Too often national Governments, including our own, are to blame for this. Governments are too quick to blame Brussels for all the bad news and to jump on the bandwagon in respect of, and claim credit for, all the good news that comes from Europe. To counter this, the EU, to quote John Major, needs to get back to basics. We need to see more focus on the positive, obvious initiatives. Following on from a period of austerity, the EU needs to be front and centre of a new, modern infrastructural programme. Let us clearly show the ordinary people of Europe how the EU works for them. A rare recent success in this regard was the new regulations on roaming charges.

We need to champion, not admonish, the four defining freedoms of the EU. Let us not pick them apart for niche negatives or focus on isolated incidents often taken out of context. The EU needs to improve existing initiatives and scale back the bureaucracy that stops good programmes such as Erasmus+ from flourishing, preventing many European citizens from reaping the benefits provided due to something daft like a 52-page application form.

Tomorrow's vote in the UK represents the greatest threat to stability in Europe - our Europe - since the Second World War. Regardless of the result, the UK's relationship within or without the EU will be changed for ever. It is in this context that Ireland has the greatest challenge to face and perhaps the most important role to play. I would like to take a moment to thank the Minister, the Taoiseach and the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, for their visits to the UK in recent weeks. I would also like to give credit to Sinn Féin, which is rare for me, for its activities in the North and the campaign it has run. The campaigns of Sinn Féin, the SLDP, the Alliance Party and the UUP will have a major impact, and I hope to see that reflected when the results come in.

That said, I will conclude by putting on the record of the House what I have been annoying many of my friends and family who are voting tomorrow with for the past few weeks, be it on Facebook, by text or e-mail or as part of European Movement Ireland's postcard campaign. I will conclude with a sincere appeal, one last time, to the good people of the UK, especially the massive Irish bloc entitled to vote: please vote to remain.