Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate and thank the Minister for Health for going to the United Kingdom to invite the European Medicines Agency to come to Ireland. I remind the House that I was the first Oireachtas Member to raise the issue that if Brexit occurs, those 700 to 900 jobs would leave Canary Wharf.I called on him to bring those jobs to Carrick-on-Shannon, which I believe would be a great area to locate. We must get them into Ireland first and then fight over where they should be located.

I, too, want to be associated with the remarks about Martin McGuinness. I wish him well. He certainly made a difference in terms of the history of our country. He was in the vanguard of securing peace through the Good Friday Agreement, and I wish him well in everything he does.

I want to highlight that on 4 February 100 years ago, we had the famous election of the snows in Boyle, in north Roscommon, which elected Count Plunkett as the first Sinn Féin MP for Westminster. He did not take his seat. My grandfather, James Feely, who was a Sinn Féin councillor, a commander of the IRA and who was imprisoned, but subsequently joined An Garda Síochána, was instrumental in that campaign. We are very proud of that in Boyle, regardless of whether one supports Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin or whatever party. This was part of history.

With regard to the institutions, we must work together, North, South, east and west, to unite the people of Ireland because in terms of Brexit, we must examine all options. More than nine months ago, I called on us to consider aspects of association with the Commonwealth through sporting, cultural, political and economic activities because this is the new dispensation. We cannot be defined by our narrow Nationalist or Unionist view. We are an independent republican country of which I am very proud but we must examine all possibilities to secure the best option for the people of Ireland and our near neighbours in the United Kingdom.