Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join with Senators O'Mahony and Leyden who spoke about the Passport Office. I had occasion to contact it in the past week and there is no doubt that the staff there are inundated with requests, particularly at this time of year. With the anticipated spike as a result of Brexit and individuals from the North and from the UK applying for Irish passports, it is important that we are well established to deal with that. I differ from Senator Leyden who wants the office located in Dundalk, no harm to Dundalk because I would be delighted to see a facility like that located in Monaghan town. That is being slightly parochial about it. It is important to address that issue. It is good to see Mr. Paisley in the North of Ireland promoting the idea of people getting Irish passports. That is a welcome development and one that we would not have foreseen ten or 15 years ago.

I welcome the fact that we will have statements on Brexit this afternoon. No country in Europe is more affected by this decision than Ireland. From a national perspective, no area of the country will be more affected by it than the Border areas. Towns stretching from Letterkenny to Dundalk, including Cavan and Monaghan, will be severely affected by this decision. At the moment there is uncertainty and problems arise every day that we had not thought about two days ago. It is a serious issue. With uncertainty comes fear. I am not over-estimating this when I say that among the business and farming communities there is a sense of fear about how this will affect them. It is important that the Government keeps this in mind in negotiations. It is important that the UK recognises our needs and that the EU recognises the unique position of this island. Maybe it is time we all had a debate about Europe and a rain check as to where it is going. The people of the UK have made a decision. We have to respect that decision but perhaps we could take time out to discuss where Europe is going and where we would like to see it go.