Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim ár mbuíochas leis an Uasal Ahern as a bheith linn ar maidin. I thank Mr. Ahern. He has given us a very comprehensive insight into his views which, given his expertise, will no doubt be very helpful and informative for the committee in the future. For obvious and very understandable reasons, the discussion thus far and indeed Mr. Ahern's own presentation has been skewed towards the economic threats posed by Brexit. As I said, that is obviously understandable given the severity of the threats Brexit poses to our economy, but I wish to talk about and try to tease out some elements around the politics and the political impact on our island as a result of Brexit.

I take issue with and a wee degree of offence at Mr. Ahern's language about a democratic exercise on Irish unity. I do not think that would be a sectarian head count; I think it would be a referendum like any other. It is wrong to pre-empt that referendum after Brexit and the latest election in the North. There has been a societal shift. I am not saying we should utilise Brexit in a cynical way but, while having the greatest respect for my colleague, Senator O'Reilly, I do not believe we should just long or wish for Irish unity but work for it practically. That should be at the heart of any Government's plan, particularly post-Brexit and the threat it poses to Ireland's national interest in its entirety. In the referendum that actually took place in the North last year, 56% voted for the North to remain, and I was one of them.

That is the expressed democratic mandate there. We can see some of the change about which I spoke in the significant rise of 56% in the number of applications for Irish passports and from all walks of life in the North. They are from republicans, Nationalists, Unionists, loyalists and everyone else in between. While anecdotal, the significant rise in the number of applications for Irish passports indicates a great desire to remain in the European Union through the EU citizenship an Irish passport and the Good Friday Agreement offer.

In February the Dáil voted to mandate the Government to seek special status for the North. Yesterday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg 516 MEPs endorsed a joint resolution to defend the Good Friday Agreement and its institutions, to ensure there would be no hard border in Ireland and that there would be special status for Ireland. I am keen to know the views of Mr. Ahern on the issue of special status and what he believes its significance would be, having regard particularly to the Good Friday Agreement. In the light of my previous question, does Mr. Ahern believe Brexit could be a potential threat to the peace process? Does he accept, as the EU Committee on Constitutional Affairs recently stated, that the Good Friday Agreement will be altered as a result of Brexit? Does he have a view on the legality or political integrity of a unilateral move by the British Government to undermine and alter the Good Friday Agreement, particularly in the context of the referendum result, North and South? The Government has an obligation not only as co-guarantor of the Agreement but particularly given that people in the South voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to endorse the Good Friday Agreement. Does the British Government have a right to unilaterally alter the Agreement without the consent of the Government and the people here? While I have 100 more questions that I could ask, what does Mr. Ahern believes is the significance of the outstanding arrangements in the Good Friday Agreement, for example, a Bill of Rights, Northern representation in the Dáil and, although slightly separate from the Agreement, extending the franchise in presidential elections to citizens in the North, all at a time when there is potential, whether there is a hard border, to have a political and an economic gulf on the island against our will. How significant is the Good Friday Agreement and the outstanding elements in this regard? Is it not time for the Government to act unilaterally where it can and where it would be appropriate to do so to fulfil its outstanding obligations?