Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is in no way to demean the work of other Senators who are extremely busy outside the Chamber. The rub of the green was not with us in this proposal. I hope a double-headed coin was not used but we were just unlucky. That we got to the point where we were unlucky is indicative of a phenomenal amount of work being put in, both by the Minister of State with responsibility for financial services and other ministerial areas, including the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, etc.

We are now in a new European paradigm. Britain is no longer involved, although we hope perhaps it will reconsider and see the light. We must prepare for the strong possibility it will no longer be involved. Ireland was competing against one of the big two in the form of France and it was a competitive bid. To use a soccer analogy, although we have beaten France on occasion, the likelihood is we would not be playing at the same level. Here, Ireland was playing competitively in terms of skill sets. This is not to demean the standard of Irish soccer players but I am making the point that we were competing on a very high level. I hope and expect this augurs very well. As a country we must now consider our competitive advantages and disadvantages across a range of areas with regard to our partners in Europe and the UK. I have no doubt the Department is doing the good exercise of examining where we stand with legislation, regulation and competitive advantage. Other countries may have updated or changed regulations and authorisation procedures and we must ensure we are as competitive as them. We must operate in a European and global arena in a competitive manner. With regard to the European Banking Authority, generally the expectation when this process started was that Ireland would not have been at the races. It showed that we adapted very quickly to the new environment with the UK not being involved in the long term. Ireland was very much able to compete. There was a strategic decision made to withdraw from the bid for the European Medicines Agency, which was correct.

I appeared before the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs approximately one month ago. The issue in question was the common consolidated corporate tax base and I represented the finance committee of these Houses. We were dealing with various matters but the UK input was missing. It would have been a natural ally but it was not there. We must adapt to this and deal with it. There has been a change in the paradigm of how we will operate. France and Germany must realise it is important we have an inclusive Europe, and we should operate on the principles of the founding fathers of Europe, namely, that people are equal and we all have something to contribute. Ireland brings skill sets and we are very much leaders in the likes of financial services and banking. We had a Minister recently visiting Northern Trust in my constituency, which is expanding at a major rate. Close to 1,000 people will be working there in a relatively short period and these are the growth areas for us.

We did not win this bid but it was not through any fault or lack of effort on the part of the Government or the Minister of State in that area. We were unlucky. I hope that in future the smaller countries on the periphery like Ireland will see comparative weighting in such processes. This would ensure a proper spread in the regions. I commend the work done on this, which augurs well for the future paradigm in Europe. I hope Britain sees the light about the impact that will come from a harsh Brexit. I hope the British people will at some point reconsider their decision. They may see it as positive for Britain to stay within the EU.