Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin is very critical of the democratic deficit at the heart of the European Union and of the Government's compliant attitude to the EU elites. We have long argued for a social Europe based on equality and the rights of all EU citizens. However, I will concentrate my remarks today on one of a range of challenges facing the EU, which is that if the outgoing British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, wins the British general election he has pledged that he will hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU by 2017. This is a paranoid political reaction to the perceived electoral threat of the eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP. It is also further evidence that the political considerations of British political parties are primarily about England and English issues.

The stark reality of an EU referendum is that it could take the North out of the European Union. The referendum will allow the views of English voters to dictate the future relationships of the North, and therefore of this island, with the European Union. It also further underlines the folly of the Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, and Ulster Unionist Party, UUP, in supporting the Tories. It is selfish, insular politics in action, with implications for Ireland as a whole. It would reinforce the partition of this island. The partition of this island is illegitimate, immoral, an intrusion in our affairs and economically disruptive. If Mr. Cameron is re-elected and has his way, this disruptive Border would be reinforced by an international frontier with passport checkpoints and customs controls. All of the work in recent years on cross-Border co-operation and the work with everybody across the island to our mutual advantage would be set to naught. This highlights the fact that the real threat to the economy in the North comes from Britain, and that the real threat to the island economy comes from partition.

The exit from the EU of part of this island will hinder free movement and severely disrupt the daily lives of people, particularly of people living in the Border counties on both sides of the Border. Irish workers, farmers and local enterprises already pay, and will continue to pay, the human, social and economic price of partition. There will be no single farm payment, rural development fund, Structural Funds or PEACE funding. Almost 1 million citizens living in Border counties pay the price for all of this daily. They do so through roaming charges, the cost of using two currencies and additional bank charges, and barriers to accessing the nearest public services, particularly health services, social housing and education. These are the people who will face increased challenges which are not of their choice. Of course, partition has resulted in ongoing violence in every decade since it was imposed on our people. Island-wide trade, which currently generates £3 billion, will be severely disrupted.

The Tory proposal for a referendum, without a separate binding vote in the North, denies people in the North the power to make decisions about their lives. It is the people of this island who should decide the economic, social and political future of Ireland. That includes the right to a separate and binding referendum in the North on European Union membership. The Taoiseach has spoken about this issue on a number of occasions in Britain and, most recently, in Belfast. I ask the Government to focus its mind on this.

It may be that some Unionists may support David Cameron's proposition but the fact is the economies of Ireland, North and South, are interlinked and interdependent. Many ordinary Unionists I met particularly from the rural areas of the Six Counties and the farming community are conscious of the interdependency and interlinking of an island economy.

It is time to build and strengthen the economy, not to split it up or divide it. It goes without saying that working together our economic output would be stronger. Splintering merely weakens the economy, undermines public services and undermines the spirit of citizens. While Sinn Féin is critical of the European Union's deficit, the European Union has the potential to provide a bridge towards the greater integration of Ireland, North and South, towards a single economic and political unit. It is the responsibility of the Government to actively promote and pursue this objective and there is a constitutional imperative on the Government to do so. It is past time that the European Parliament deal with Ireland as one, and not two, systems. The potential for the North to positively reshape our relationship with the European Union in the context of a limited and narrow British vote on EU membership should not be overlooked. Parties with no democratic mandate in any part of this island cannot be allowed by the Government the power to dictate the political or economic future of this country.

Political and economic decision making powers must be increasingly transferred from London to Belfast. As I said earlier, all citizens in the North should have the right to express their will through a separate legally binding vote on European Union membership. That is the only position which makes any sense whatsoever. It is a position which the Taoiseach needs to support and if in the future - we will know this within the coming days or weeks - a referendum is to be organised by an incoming British Government, he needs to assertively pursue with his British counterpart the need and the right for a separate and legally binding referendum for citizens in the North of Ireland on this issue. I, therefore, call on the Taoiseach to seek an urgent meeting with the new British Government to pursue this matter.

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