Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am a little concerned about some of the utterances from the political class in Ireland as a result of the Brexit referendum. I hear people talking about how they got it wrong. We are democrats in this House and I ask the Leader, as a democrat, to acknowledge the fact that 72% of the electorate of the UK turned out, and 52% of those voted to leave the European Union. Whether we like that or not it is wrong that we would in any way condemn the electorate of the UK for deciding to exit the European Union. I accept it has left many problems and I was delighted to hear on "Morning Ireland" earlier that Sinn Féin has parked its suggestion that there be some sort of Border vote. It is not the time to start rattling cages that do not need to be rattled just yet but we do need to look to the UK and to our brothers and sisters in Northern Ireland and respect their decision.