Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome that we are having these statements and this debate on the North in the Dáil today. Like others, I wish that this were a more regular feature of Dáil business and I urge the Government to ensure it is.

These latest negotiations were in the first instance a direct result of the crisis created by the economic and political policies of the British Government in particular, supported by the Administration in Dublin. As other speakers have acknowledged, two brutal murders in Belfast were seized upon for political reasons and this moved the crisis to an even deeper level. The negotiations have been difficult. There is no point in saying otherwise.

In economic terms, Fine Gael and her sister party, the Irish Labour Party, made common cause with the British Conservative Party in their relentless pursuit of austerity. Like the Irish Government, the Tories have used the cover of recession to cut public services and benefits and to plan further swingeing cuts to supports for working families and the poor. Through disastrous austerity policies, the Irish Government has increased inequality, work poverty, homelessness, the numbers on hospital trolleys and emigration. The British Government, the Tories, seeks to do likewise in the Six Counties. It is receiving the full support of Fine Gael and its sister party, the Labour Party, in this ambition.

We have two Governments clearly on the side of austerity. That is the position and that is the context in which this negotiation took place. Therefore, getting a positive deal was always going to be a challenge. However, Sinn Féin stood up for ordinary citizens, as we have consistently promised to do. We have secured additional moneys for the Executive which will help minimise some of the worst excesses of Tory austerity.

We make no pretence. It will do simply that.

We succeeded in securing in excess of €800 million over the next four years to support those most in need. That is what this agreement does. Other colleagues have legitimately raised their concern about Tory cuts, and I join them in echoing that concern. I also join them in echoing the need to fight austerity in Ireland, North or South, whether it is from the Tories in government in Dublin or the Tories in government in London. The money that was secured represents an increase on those moneys that were promised in the previous Stormont House Agreement. The truth is that Tory cuts, and the ability of Mr. Osborne, the chancellor in London, to inflict austerity on the citizens of the North, is a direct consequence of partition. It makes no sense for anybody in this Chamber to rail against Tory austerity in the North and to be mute on the issue of partition. If one truly wishes to see an end to Tory austerity, or the prospect of it, in the North of Ireland, one must work to end partition and to re-unify our country.

We also secured in excess of £500 million of additional funding to support the unique needs of a society emerging from decades of conflict and division, and an economy that faces the legacy of under-investment and partition. As I have said, we, in Sinn Féin, do not agree with the policies of the two Governments. We reject the idea that cutting supports and public services is good for the economy or our citizens. Austerity is wrong and it has failed. Furthermore, those in the Tory Government who inflict austerity on the North have no mandate in any part of Ireland, from any section of our people or from any community. Therefore, austerity in the North is clearly the price of the union.

For its part, Sinn Féin stands for investment in growth and prosperity, for fairness and equality, and for supports and services for those in need, and therefore, we support and take the option of minimising and frustrating Tory ambitions for wholesale austerity and cutbacks in the North of Ireland. We believe that the continued operation of the political institutions, for all of their flaws, is the best way to build a strong platform against austerity cuts by the Tories. It is the best way to maintain a level of control over our public services. It is the best way, potentially, to grow the economy and to support those most in need.

I will say a few words on the issue of the harmonisation of the corporation tax rates across Ireland because Members have raised legitimate concerns in that regard. I point out, and I am sure everybody who has contributed to this debate has read the agreement, that such a harmonisation is contingent on "affordability". This word is in the agreement for a purpose. I also point out the absolute imperative at this stage to secure fiscal powers for the Executive and the Assembly in the North. At this juncture, it is absolutely essential. We cannot ask those elected to the Northern Ireland Executive to oversee economic development and generation and to oversee adequate public service provision with two hands tied behind their back. The argument now must be made with one voice - republican, loyalist, Unionist and Nationalist - from Ireland that those fiscal powers be returned to the Executive in Belfast. The Irish Government needs to focus seriously on creating an all-island economy. Recent reports have shown just how important and positive an all-island economy can be - a win-win North and South.

I am conscious that some, particularly in Fianna Fáil, called for the institutions to collapse in the course of the recent crisis. All that would achieve is political disenfranchisement of those who in many instances in the North - I am thinking particularly of the Nationalist community - were disenfranchised for generations in a partitioned Ireland. It would also allow for full-blown unrestrained Tory austerity on communities in the North. This would be a social, political, and economical disaster. Fianna Fáil may wish to reconsider that rather petulant position.

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