Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mar atá ráite ag mo chomhghleacaithe, an Teachta Munster, tá an reifreann seo tar éis titim amach de bharr bogadh suntasach go leor i dtreo an eite dheis i bpolaitíocht na Breataine, ach tá impleachtaí suntasacha ansin do mhuintir an Tuaiscirt chomh maith.

This month was the 18th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which has led to a transformation in relations between Ireland and Britain, and between North and South. Due to this Agreement, the Border is now in many respects irrelevant. Families, farmers, tourists and business people travel freely and frequently, which is good for peace and for prosperity. The political and economic implications for our island if the likes of Boris Johnson, Arlene Foster and Jim Allister persuade voters to back Brexit are enormous. It could have potentially devastating political, social, economic and cultural consequences, particularly in the Border region. The Secretary of State recently ridiculed concerns that Brexit would lead to controls being imposed at our border. However, given all other such borders with the EU are marked by checkpoints and controls, why would our border necessarily be any different? The return of any form of border control would be a devastating blow to Border communities and would undermine the massive political progress that has been made to break down barriers on the island.

Indeed, Brexit could present the most serious economic challenge to the Border region since partition. More than €1 billion is traded each week in goods and services between this State, the North and Britain. Much of this is agricultural produce, amounting to €150 million each day in trade. In the North, the end of the single farm payment would result in a loss of €2.5 billion to farmers, and Britain exiting the EU would mean an end to the Rural Development Fund, a loss of €1 billion in Structural Funds and dedicated funding towards the PEACE scheme, which has been helping to reconcile communities on both sides of the Border since the Good Friday Agreement. The Secretary of State has refused to answer whether the British Government would replace funding lost to the North as a consequence of withdrawal by the British state from the EU and that is a significant cause of concern to farmers and communities in the North. Our fear is that no British Government will make up the gap in vital funding that Brexit would create.

Tá go leor imní ann go gciallóidh vóta i bhfábhar an AE a fhágáil go lagófaí cearta daonna, agus go mbeidh impleachtaí suntasacha ag an vóta sin don Tuaisceart ó thaobh ceisteanna slándála, póilíneachta agus próis chuí sna cúirteanna. In particular, the danger that the ability to use the Charter of Fundamental Rights as a defence against regressive or punitive British legislation would be removed. Prime Minister David Cameron's stated intention - it was part of the Tory Party manifesto and very passionately expounded by very many of its candidates during the campaign - is to repeal the Human Rights Act. The Good Friday Agreement has a commitment to equivalent human rights protection North and South of the Border, so it would be endangered in that regard.

The chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has stated that the repeal of the Human Rights Act "would have negative consequences for the uniformity of human rights standards across these islands". That would again have an impact on the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement. The directors of Amnesty International in Britain and Ireland have expressed "deep concern" and warned that repeal of the Act could undercut "public confidence in the political and policing arrangements that stem from the Good Friday Agreement". Needless to say, considerable work was done to create any level of confidence in the policing structures and the criminal justice system, and that could be damaged in repealing the Act.

I underscore my comments by saying that our attitude to Europe remains critical. It is an institution not without achievements but it is our belief that is not adequately democratic and that it has, along with the International Monetary Fund, facilitated vicious austerity programmes and influenced changes of regime in places such as Italy and Greece not consistent with ordinary democracy. Policy is directed primarily by a detached and disconnected Commission and it tends in a direction that has been for some time towards the right. Nonetheless, in responding to some other arguments, that is not an adequate argument to support a referendum that will ultimately lead to vandalisation of Britain's human rights obligations and will not see one iota of progress towards a social Europe. It will have significant implications for Ireland. Ultimately, this will be decide by a vote but we should not be timid or meek in making the case for Ireland in all this. This decision would, after all, mean part of Ireland would be in the EU and part of it would be outside the EՍ.

Deputy Eamon Ryan referred to the Act of Union and some sort of parallel in the debates then and now, but there is a major difference. The big implications for Ireland of this decision are largely a result, direct and indirect, of the colonialisation and partition of Ireland, of which the Act of Union was part. What Britain decides, it may also decide for a part of Ireland. Mar focal scoir, beidh Sinn Féin ag rith feachtas láidir sa Tuaisceart ag éileamh vóta i gcoinne an reifreann seo ar an 23 Meitheamh. Táimid ag tabhairt cuireadh do chuile Theachta, iad siúd atá i bpáirtithe polaitiúla agus iad siúd nach bhfuil, obair leo siúd atá gníomhach i dtalamhaíocht, i gceardchumainn agus i ngnó, le lucht eagraíochta na Gaeilge agus lucht na n-eagraíochtaí pobail, agus le gnáthdhaoine an Tuaiscirt san iarracht seo atá á déanamh an reifreann seo a stopadh.

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