Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the 1930s, there was an economic war between Ireland and Britain. This is a version of an economic war in that the UK pulling out of the EU will effectively create trade barriers that are going to destroy elements and some sectors of the Irish economy in some instances. The witnesses touched upon the political statements. The Prime Minister, Ms Theresa May, said that there was no desire to return to a hard Border. However, when she had the portfolio of Home Secretary, she insisted that there would be a hard Border. We can take everything she says with a pinch of salt depending on which hat she chooses to wear.

The issue of the Border is of huge concern to this committee with regard to whether it is going to be reimposed in terms of physical checks. From everything I have read and seen, because Britain is tearing up the four freedoms of goods, people, services and capital, the EU will insist that we put in a hard Border. The Commissioner, who was here this week, has said that. If Ireland signs up to the rules of the EU in terms of the four freedoms, we must abide by those rules if a country like Great Britain does not do so.

The witness touched on the Norwegian model but that is entirely different. Britain does not want that model. It has basically said that it is not going to sign up for the freedom of people. Therefore, the Norwegian model does not apply. There will not be a case in which her Royal Majesty's customs officials will go into County Louth to look at the back of somebody's truck. I could not imagine that they would ever have dreamed of doing so. That is not going to happen. We need to stop talking about options that Britain itself has ruled out and look at the hard reality.

The freedom of movement across the Border is far more important to us than the common travel area. The common travel area sounds great, but everybody who goes to an airport has to hand in a passport. Their identity is already checked. Going down a different chute in Heathrow Airport if they happen to go to England once in a blue moon does not add a hill of beans to their existence. What does matter is the 12,000 people who go from the Republic to the North every day to go to work, the 8,000 who go from the North to the South every day to go to work and the thousands who cross the Border as part of their normal existence to see their farm, neighbours and friends. That is the hard reality.

Putting 40,000 people on the Border, as Mr. Bertie Ahern pointed out, did not seal the Border. Yet, between 1939 and 1952, there were passport checks between Northern Ireland and Britain. They checked everybody going from Belfast, Derry and Larne. Today, they racially profile people who are getting on boats and planes under Operation Gull. They will upscale that when the UK leaves the EU because everybody will see Ireland as a back door. It will not be very hard to get across the Border. People will try to get to Britain through that back door. Britain will check everybody going across the sea from Northern Ireland. Yet it will also insist on trying to seal a Border that, in the height of the Troubles when lives were on the line, could not be sealed with 40,000 people. It is going to cause an economic calamity between the North and the South, impinge upon people's daily lives and also put the peace process at risk.

The House of Lords report, which I am sure the witnesses have seen, has ruled out moving the Border between these islands, even though it is the most practical thing to do and even though it is what they are doing already on a racially-profiled basis with Operation Gull. They are going to formalise Operation Gull and do it as a matter of course when the UK formally leaves the EU. For all the issues we keep talking about that the UK keeps ruling out, would it not be more honest for us to start saying that if we want to keep the Border open, the real border checks will have to be between these two islands?

The economic issues, which I know my colleagues will talk about, are a catastrophe. It is beyond reckoning how bad it is going to get. This really is a slow car crash. We are looking for proposals from the witnesses in terms of outlining the problems, which is helpful, because there are so many. In reality, we should be putting forward the case for Ireland and for the people of this island. The House of Lords is ruling out doing something that the UK did between 1939 and 1952, but would make a huge difference to a lot of people's lives if the UK put the Border where it used to be for nearly 13 years.