Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very grateful to have the opportunity to speak on this topic. I extend my sympathy to all those who were killed, injured and affected by what happened last Friday night. It is quite astounding. No words could describe it. However, it has opened a new vista to Europe and the world we live in.

We have to stand by our French brothers and sisters and our fellow human beings and say this is an absolute travesty and if we can at all we need to prevent it happening again. It is a challenge to life as we know it. Europe thankfully has had a relatively peaceful existence for quite a while but we cannot forget that war ravaged Europe for many decades. I visited Lithuania ten years ago. The country had five different administrations in the previous 100 years with devastating consequences for the normal people. That percolated through their being and upset an awful lot of people but they moved on. We certainly do not want to return to that.

The majority of Muslims and members of other religions are peaceful people. We have to try to tackle this problem because we cannot allow a mindset that brands everyone as the same, much as the Irish unfortunately were branded or mistrusted in England for many years for other reasons. We need to try to identify with those who want peace and work with them to tackle this developing problem.

We should not forget that the world population is spiralling. It took decades to increase by 1 billion but once we hit the 19th century it moved up 1 billion in a short few years because of better health care and better food. The world in the past three years has produced the largest harvest ever. We are producing vast quantities of food but we have vast populations. Unfortunately, the food is not being equally distributed and there is competition for it. Democracy is at the centre of all this. We might disagree over economic decisions and reject the philosophies of others but no matter how difficult the arguments are there needs to be a respect for democracy. Sometimes it is forgotten that it is hard won. Most of the places we are discussing where problems arise do not have a functioning democracy. Whatever the failings of democracy we need to recognise it.

I was very privileged to have an intern a few years ago whose father sailed in a canoe or some type of single person boat across the sea to Italy. He worked, got his family across, risked life and limb and she is an amazing person who will reach the top echelons, I hope, in law or whatever she is studying.

Many who come to Europe desperate to escape terrible conditions have huge potential to offer our community. We need to try to put a system in place that will welcome those who will contribute to our society and make us more multicultural and give us a true perspective on what a multicultural society can give to us. It will take many like-minded people from various European nations and otherwise to engage constructively if we are to get a multi-pronged approach to this problem. That means understanding the people who carry out terrible acts like this.

We need to counteract it immediately but we must take the long-term view in terms of educating these people to stop committing acts that are against human nature.

European defence policy may have to be discussed at some point. It was great to hear people say after the devastation in Paris that we need political leadership. Now is the time for the European leaders to stand up to this terror because it is hoped that will bring us the answers in time. May those who lost their lives rest in peace.

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