Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with much of what my colleague has said, but I would like to bring the focus back home. In 2016, the day after the referendum, I wrote an article on the re-establishment of a Border on this island. At the time, it was scoffed at by many as an impossibility. It is not quite so impossible now. I would like to know what steps has the Government taken to bring back the corporate knowledge we have lost since roughly 1998 to 1999, in particular to bring back customs people who worked the Border at that time and understand it in terms of training some of those 400 people who are coming forward? We have closed Garda stations over the years and there is no Defence Forces location anywhere between Donegal and Dundalk. In terms of Cavan and Monaghan, are we carrying out reconnaissance to find locations where soldiers can be accommodated in the event of a Border being put in place?

Language is everything when we are talking about the future of our relationship with Northern Ireland. I deeply resent the term "hard border". There was never a hard border on the island of Ireland, not since the foundation of the State. There has been a highly militarised Border and a Border that was managed with checkpoints but there was never a hard border on this island. When we talk about a hard border going forward, are we considering putting in place a hard border which means, to use a "Trumpism", building the wall? I do not see that happening. I see us going back to the type of Border we had which was a managed Border which will require physical presence at approved crossings. Once we put a physical present in place, it will require personnel from An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. Has that even been war-gamed at this stage? Have we any idea where we stand there?

The next issue is that of funding. My colleague, Senator Richmond, mentioned it to a certain degree. We had two groups before the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement last week and they are particularly concerned about the mismatch of funding that will take place in a post-Brexit scenario, even if it is a soft Brexit. We expect we will still have European money coming to the Southern counties through the various programmes in place but what steps are being taken to guarantee that the British will match pound per euro to ensure we have funding on the Northern side.

In terms of the other issues that have arisen, much play is made about the unity of Europe and how we are all in this together but as one famous investor, George Soros, put it, Europe is likely to catastrophically collapse in a situation worse than the Soviet Union. He points to the various things that are happening around Europe, including the yellow vest protests in France, the right wing in Italy, and deviance within the systems in Poland and Hungary. How sure are we that the solidarity we talk about will remain in place in the event of a crash out?

I will make two final points the first of which is on the issue of a Border poll. Those who advocate for a Border poll are not here, which is a pity, because I would like to see that this issue is firmly eliminated from the discussion by the Government. We want communities in Northern Ireland to live together in harmony and to trade and work with people in the South of Ireland. A Border poll is a long way away.

My final point is that Senator Richmond’s committee has set up a number of meetings in the North of Ireland in early March. Wisely, he has included civic groups from the unionist and nationalist communities. I have spoken to Senator Richmond on that. There is a growing civic voice in the North of Ireland that is neither nationalist nor unionist. They are the ordinary citizens who are concerned for their future, regardless of whichever way it goes, whether there is a crash out Brexit or a hard Brexit. They need and want a voice. Has our Government considered a way we might give them a voice to ensure their concerns can be raised, first across Ireland and, second, across Europe? Sadly, the voice from Northern Ireland we are hearing down here is that of one side only, which does not necessarily reflect the feeling on the ground. I thank the Chairman. I am sorry if I went on a bit.