Taoiseach Enda Kenny
In recent months, the Irish Government has advocated for our belief that the EU would be better with Britain as a leading member and that Britain and Ireland have always worked together very well as equal partners within the European Union.
I’m very sorry that the result of the referendum is for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. However, the British people have spoken clearly and we fully respect their position and their decision.
I want to assure the Irish public that we have prepared, to the greatest extent possible, for this eventuality. There will be no immediate change to the free flow of people, of good and of services between our islands.
We have previously set out our main concerns in the event of Brexit becoming a reality. These relate to the potential impacts for trade and for the economy and for Northern Ireland, for the Common Travel Area and for the European Union itself.
We have engaged in detailed contingency planning for the possibility of this result and this morning, at Government, we agreed to publish a summary of the key actions which we will now take to address the contingencies arising from the decision of the electorate of the United Kingdom.
Our primary objective remains to protect and to advance this country’s interest. I propose to further brief the Opposition leaders of those actions in the afternoon and the Dáil will be recalled on Monday.
The Summer Economic Statement, published earlier this week, includes an assessment of the potential economic impact of a UK vote to leave the European Union. Ireland is a strong, open and competitive economy and our ongoing economic recovery is testament to our resilience.
We will continue to implement policies that prioritise economic stability and growth and job creation and to use the benefits of that growth for our people.
…I want to say that we are acutely aware of the concerns which will be felt by the many thousands of people within the Irish community in Britain. Let me assure them that the Irish Government will also have their interests in our thinking, and very much in our thinking as we approach the forthcoming negotiations.
It is important to remember that the position of Irish citizens within the European Union will be unaffected. The other concern that the Government has expressed is about a British departure from the European Union relates to the impact on the European Union itself.
Ireland will, of course, remain a member of the European Union. This is profoundly in our national interest. After more than 40 years of membership, we have built up strong bonds of partnership with all the other member states and with the European institutions and that will continue to serve us well in the time ahead.
We must now, however, being a period of reflection and debate on how we can renew the union of 27 and equip it for the many challenges that lie ahead. There will be a discussion of the next steps at a meeting of the European Council next week.
I will set out, very clearly, our national position at that meeting and I will ensure that our particular national interests are fully respected as we prepare to enter the next phase of negotiations.
From Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s speech delivered earlier following the Brexit vote.
Pic: Rollingnews
Enda’s cacking it now.
We are doomed
he’ll wait for further instructions from Berlin/Brussels
Exactly the nonsense that have us in this situation. Well done.
+1
Lots of British people fell for the same nonsense lots if Irish people liked to indulge in. That is to say, blaming the EU for their own governments, and own societies, failings and mismanagement.
+1
Fueled by opportunistic scum media
US media represent the pinnacle of media scum.
Royal Fine Gael love the British Royals. They secretly want us back in the UK, being cap-doffing subjects.
“We have engaged in detailed contingency planning”
Yeah right. They’ll do what they usually do and that is to wait and see what everybody else does.
exactly. that speech is just about calming people. reassure people its grand. dont worry.
they never plan for anything, and creating a contingency plan for something that back then, only might happen, would take a lot of work, and that is something they are never prepared to do.
I’ve heard enough doom and gloom and scaremongering by both sides. Got my positivity hat on. This will be good for Ireland. It’s also quite possible US companies will invest more here.
https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/746326583942782976?lang=en
“I will set out, very clearly, our national position at that meeting …” You will in your hoop you inarticulate cretin.
What basis do you have to criticise the articulacy of anyone when you can’t even achieve basic punctuation?
Please just go to rehab and deal with your issues.
great
so it’s exactly the opposite of what he says…dem iodine tablets must’ve got lost in the post
Enda Kenny,Micheál Martin,The Irish Times,Fintan O’Toole,Gerry Adams,Fintan O’Toole, Bob Geldof and every other pissed Paddy desperate for our neighbours on the mainline to look after our interests.
Are you listening ?
Your boys took one hell of a beating !
Enda, a poor man’s Zapp Brannigan.
oh they’ve prepared have they? the only thing he/they prepared was that speech.
This is a great day for innovative and free thinking politicians as the opportunities are outstanding, but unfortunately we live in Ireland and are governed by bad teachers, failed solicitors and publicans
It is also a great day for democracy, and criticism of the leave vote must be treated with the cynicism and ridicule it deserves. EU undone by democratic vote (and a very large turn out at that)
It is also a day to pay respect to the UK voters whom were not deterred by big business, career bureaucrats and false flags, to express there beliefs. After all populism is pure democracy
As with every aspect of the Leave campaign, you just have to read this nonsense to know its a bad idea.
Yeah, who talks like this in real life? Sounds like a press release.
Well, a press release from a PR person who can’t do grammar or punctuation.
I believe that poor grammar and punctuation are employed to signal strong emotion. I am emoting too strongly for punctuation and grammar which is for elites and experts and faceless bureaucrats and sheep who embrace their shackles,, it tells you, while parroting this artificially generated rhetoric.
On the other hand, ‘populism is pure democracy’ must be satire. Have we misjudged?
I live in Australia. A few asked me if I still have a vote in Brexit, and other similar lines showing that they do not understand the status of Ireland. We need a united Ireland, if only to stop these types of conversations.
Yeah, the Republic needs a €10bn annual leach just so you don’t have to have conversations with people unfamiliar with the politics of the island you came from.
Tax rates through the roof to pay for all the public servants, “disabled” and underemployed up north.
SF out of the gate late last night, firing on all cylinders looking for a referendum on a united ireland. Lol.
Did it ever occur to you that a lot of companies in the Republic are now going to move at least part of their operation into NI to circumvent EU trade restrictions? NI will be a very different place in five years time.
Yeah, that’s a great reason to take on the financial life support of a million plus crazed fanatics still fighting the religious wars of the 17th century.
Thanks Enny, good to know.
I’d really like to believe he’s his own man representing his country at Council meetings, but I fear he’ll either be a Cameron or Merkel stooge.
I haven’t looked at this virtual rag in a long time;
it’s still just like the Daily Mail for hipsters. Awful sneery ignoramuses.
Only cos we know better.
The millons in uk Enda are fully aware how corrupt politicans tried to destroy the late Tom Gilmartin in the Re0public.
Yeah. Those ‘Justice for Gilmartin’ rallies were huge. Prat.
Of course ROI will remain part of EU, for now. No one knows what the future will bring. No one knows if the EU will even exist in five years time, let alone anything else.
Don`t panic, don`t panic, speak, breath, don`t forget to breath, don`t panic.
Christ, what are we going to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luG9Ilu2yTE