Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have just three questions I would like to ask on Brexit. The first concerns the transition period. The proposal seems to be that there will be a 21-month period, which is a lot less than we had been hoping for. I understand the Government's position, and certainly that of Fianna Fáil, was that there should be a five-year transition period. Did the Government, through the Minister of State, Minister, Taoiseach or officials, formally request a five-year period? If so, what were the reasons for having a period that is considerably shorter, amounting to less than two years?

My second question is on the Border. The Minister of State said Ireland has achieved guarantees on avoiding a hard border. My fear is that this might be overstating the case. The United Kingdom has reasserted its commitment to no hard border. There is cross-party unity in the Republic regarding the view that there must be no hard border, and no border of any kind with Northern Ireland, yet we see what I believe is a concerted move from British politicians to begin to normalise border controls. They are talking about the US–Canada border in what I believe is a disgraceful normalisation of that type of border. The UK Foreign Secretary has talked about some checks. A leaked letter from him to the Prime Minister refers to 5% border checks. Many believe it was leaked by him or his officials. I have debated with Brexiteer MPs who have recently started talking about the US border.

I have debated with Brexiteer MPs who have started talking recently about the United States border. I believe that is a concerted move. I do not believe the British Government is as committed to not having Border controls as we are in the Republic. I believe some Brexiteers, including some very influential Brexiteers, would sacrifice Border controls around the Six Counties for the type of free market liberal freedom they seem to want. Unfortunately, stating that we have a guarantee that there will not be a hard border is probably overstating it. I very much hope I am wrong on that.

Will the Irish Government be insisting that the backstop, that is, full, ongoing, legally implemented alignment economically across the entire economy North-South, will be the default legal position come the last day of the transition period? Obviously, we would love the United Kingdom to stay in the customs union and the Single Market, which is option A in the December agreement. They said they are not doing that. We are open to them coming forward with a new suite of technologies that no one in the world has ever implemented or invented yet to solve the problem technologically but they have not come forward with that.

Having agreed to this backstop, the Prime Minister stated recently that it threatens the constitutional integrity of the UK. There is expert legal opinion to the effect that it does not and that it should be possible, but will it be the Irish Government's firm position that on the first day after the transition period, if options A and B are not in place, which are technological solutions or ongoing UK alignment to the European Union, there will be legal mechanisms in place and active on the ground that essentially will fully align Northern Ireland to the EU in terms of customs, regulation and standards across the entire economy?

In terms of our own preparations, President Tusk's comments should be very worrying for Ireland. He referenced a free trade agreement, and specifically Canada. He made it very clear that there would be Border checks and that there would not be a frictionless Border. For our companies that means higher costs, reduced competitiveness and the Government's recent report from Copenhagen Economics referencing the threats to many thousands of jobs across the country.

With regard to relaxations to state aid and EU funding for adaptation, in terms of our businesses in agriculture, textiles and manufacturing across the board, we have to figure out how to get higher market penetration into the EU 26 and beyond. Has the Government formally requested that state aid and new EU adaptation funding, or other supports for Irish business in response to Brexit, be added to the agenda? Have they appeared on any of the agendas for meetings the Minister of State has attended at the European Council or any of the other relevant EU committees or are they due to appear on the agenda and be discussed in the coming weeks or months?