Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gan amhras, beidh cruinniú na seachtaine seo mar cheann de na cruinnithe is tábhachtaí le fada. Tá sé tábhachtach don tír seo, don Eoraip agus do mhuintir an domhain ar fad. The run up to the meeting on Friday has presented a false sense of calm which is belied by the fact that none of the major items to be considered is anywhere near resolution. It has been indicated that the Council will note progress regarding the withdrawal treaty which will cover the period from March 2019 to December 2020. With regard to general issues, the current text effectively represents the UK Government facing up to the fact that in order to continue to have access to the Single Market and customs union during this period, it must respect the rules of the Single Market and customs union. Rarely before has so much time and energy been wasted on getting a government to acknowledge the blindingly obvious.

In the text released on Monday, there remain major gaps where there is no substantive agreement and the reality is that the Irish Border is the largest of these gaps. One of the casualties of the Government's obsession with spinning everything is that it is almost impossible to take it at its word any more when it comes to a political issue. It has shown itself incapable of acknowledging setbacks or unanticipated problems. As such, the declarations of happiness with Monday's agreement cannot, unfortunately, be taken at face value. Equally, the petulant aggression which has been shown to any party which has the temerity to question the Government on Brexit is now on daily display. We saw more of this yesterday when the Tánaiste made an extraordinary attack on Deputy Donnelly and my party. He claimed that we were undermining the Government and that "all informed commentary" agrees with the Government. This was followed by the equally bizarre claim that the Opposition was failing to consult the Government sufficiently. The Taoiseach and his Ministers, and I appreciate the comments of the Taoiseach earlier, would do well to understand that others are entitled to disagree with them. This remains a democracy and we have both a right and a duty to challenge them where we believe this is necessary. Equally, they do not define what is and is not a Euro-positive position. As Ireland's most consistently pro-EU party that has negotiated and campaigned for a strong EU for nearly 60 years, we will not be taking any lectures from people incapable of offering a confidential briefing or going beyond vague and self-congratulatory public statements. I would also point out that we have been signalling Brexit as a priority since the moment the British referendum was announced. We were pushing for preparations well before it commenced and we have been relentless in stating in both Great Britain and Europe the fixed political will of the overwhelming majority, which is that Ireland remains committed to a strong EU and that the rights and interests of Northern Ireland need to be protected. The Taoiseach should also look back and see that we were the first to point out the need to provide explicit, treaty-level protection of the EU citizenship rights of residents of Northern Ireland.

The fact is that outside of Ireland, the overwhelming majority of informed commentary has said that Monday's deal represents a potentially dangerous kicking of Ireland's concerns down the road. The UK has reaffirmed that it supports the principle of a backstop. It has absolutely not agreed to the backstop sought by Ireland, which would involve the automatic continuance of Northern Ireland in the customs union and Single Market until we agree some other arrangement. No text covering the substantive content of a backstop has been agreed. Prime Minister May's letter confirms that she is committed to there being no east-west division in the UK. Equally, the DUP has said it is entirely comfortable with Monday's outcome, which is hardly something which inspires confidence given that party's very negative attitude to the EU's proposed text on a backstop. Substantial commentary has suggested that this marks a moment where Ireland is losing traction on the principle that there be no final status negotiations until a final status for Ireland is agreed. Reports from last week's meeting of the 27 suggest that many countries have already started raising their final status demands. We remain highly concerned that the Government failed to put forward any proposal for a special status for Northern Ireland early enough because of a misplaced belief that Ireland could force the UK to agree a major compromise on its overall relationship with the EU. This has now been dragged into a deeply unhelpful and destructive debate where it is being misrepresented as a threat to the agreed constitutional framework on this island and within the UK. Unfortunately we have yet to hear, publicly or privately, anything from our Government about how it sees option two working. Monday's statements suggest that our priority is to make the overall EU-UK relationship as close as possible thereby making option two or a status quobackstop unnecessary. How this might come to pass has not been explained even in the most general way. The background to this is continuing evidence presented to committees in Westminster that a no-impact Border is impossible to create if the UK as a single trade area leaves the customs union or Single Market.

What we need is a lot more clarity and a lot less spin. What exactly is our Government’s bottom line? While it says it does not want a hard border, when will it give us a proper definition of what this means? Is it simply about the physical management of the Border or does it encompass wider regulatory issues? Will we block the withdrawal treaty later this year if it does not include the current proposed backstop? What is the process by which the enormous gap between the EU position and the UK position on the specifics of the backstop will be bridged? Instead of more short-term spin, it is long since past time when we need some clarity on these issues. Unless we get it, the suspicion will be that whatever emerges will be declared a victory irrespective of its likely divisive impact on this island.

The summit will also address the issue of future steps regarding taxation, in particular digital taxation. Fianna Fáil strongly objects to the attempt to push forward a proposal on which even the most basic background work has not been prepared. There has been no attempt to outline its impact on member states. It is a headline, not a policy, and it fails to address any of the causes of economic problems in the eurozone or the Union as a whole. No member state would propose such a speculative measure within its own legislative process.

It should be sent back to the Commission to be reworked in light of the OECD's work and not returned until an impact assessment is produced.

On the wider economic reform agenda, it is the duty of the Taoiseach to explain here the full detail of what he appears to be signing Ireland up to. It has been reported that Ireland is against an expansion of the European Union's budget and is against a number of measures which would give the European Union some fiscal clout. It is also reported that we have aligned ourselves with countries which oppose some important elements of a true banking union. The truth of these reports is unclear because the Taoiseach has made no public statement on them and his normally hyperactive briefers have said nothing to journalists. He needs to deal with this before moving further and he should seek the legitimacy of a Dáil vote. We continue to believe in the need to expand the Union's budget, if necessary through a new dedicated revenue stream, and that addressing the causes of the eurozone crisis requires a more comprehensive set of reforms.

It is also reported that the replacement for Mario Draghi at the ECB is being negotiated. Mr. Draghi is the person most responsible for the recovery of recent years. Under no circumstance should Ireland support a candidate who opposed the policies which saved the euro and addressed the enormous errors which pushed Ireland and others into further difficulties.

The summit will also respond to the murders and attempted murders of Russians in the United Kingdom. There is no credible doubt about who is responsible for this savagery. This is a defining moment for Europe and the democratic world. Will we defend the rule of law or will we allow an increasingly undemocratic and aggressive country to undermine it? While it is understandable that the UK's decision to turn its back on strong co-operation between European states causes real anger, we must not have any doubt that we stand with the UK on this issue.

The response so far has been weak enough. Any proposal to reduce sanctions or appease anti-European Union aggression should be opposed. In this context, the Government should immediately reverse its resistance to Deputy Lawless's Bill to protect our elections and must significantly increase the resourcing to the Data Protection Commissioner. I ask the Taoiseach to reconsider the position he articulated this morning and allow that Bill proceed to Committee where amendments can be proposed to facilitate its early passage. Because of the companies based here we have a responsibility to work with and for other European states in addressing this already real attack on democratic discourse.

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