Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to dedicate my remarks today to the memory of my good friend, Stan Corrigan, a long-standing member of Sinn Féin, whose funeral is taking place just now.

Divisions on the EU within the British Tory party led David Cameron to make the mistake of calling a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. The debate in advance of the referendum was marred by racism, hatred and fear, especially in recent weeks. As immigration became the dominant theme for the Leave side, it was ruthlessly exploited by the right wing and the far right. The brutal murder of Labour MP Jo Cox was unable to stem the tide. This found its greatest expression in the UKIP poster that depicted thousands of exhausted immigrants trudging through the roads of southern Europe, desperate for work and safety. Its overtones of the fascism of the 1930s drew huge criticism, but to no avail. Is oth liom a rá go raibh ceist na n-imirceach ina fhachtóir freisin san fheachtas ó Thuaidh.

Leaving aside these unacceptable aspects of the Brexit debate, the outcome of the referendum is a vindication of Sinn Féin’s long-standing criticism of the democratic deficit at the heart of the EU, the two-tier nature of the Union's structures and the social and economic inequalities inherent in the political ethos of the bigger states. Tá seasamh leanúnach i gcoinne gnéithe seo an Aontais Eorpaigh glactha ag Sinn Féin. We have also consistently argued for a more robust and less compliant policy from successive Irish Governments. In 1972, Sinn Féin and other progressives campaigned against membership of the EEC. Over the decades since then, we have modified our position to one of critical engagement. This position was formally adopted by our Ard-Fheis in 1999. At that time we said we were keenly aware of the dangers for Ireland as more and more decisions were ceded to unaccountable structures in the Union. We set out as our objectives the reform and restructuring of the EU, the decentralising of power, the promotion of national or state democracy, the promotion of economic and social justice and the creation of a 32-county political and economic identity within the EU. Is í sin ár dtuairim fós.

Tá gá ann an Aontas Eorpach a athchóiriú leis na mblianta anois. Ba cheart toradh an reifrinn an phróiseas sin a spreagadh agus ba chóir an deis sin a ghlacadh le práinne. I have no confidence that the elites in Europe will apply themselves to this task. I doubt that our Government has any real commitment to this objective. Those of us who want a social European Union, and there is EU-wide demand for such a fair dispensation based on equality, must find ways of uniting behind this demand.

On this island, notwithstanding partition, we should accept the vote in the North. Ba cheart dúinn a ghlacadh gur chaith tromlach na ndaoine sa Tuaisceart a gcuid vótaí chun fanacht laistigh den Aontas Eorpach. Many people, including those who have spoken already this afternoon, will say we are bound by the so-called United Kingdom vote. Sinn Féin says we are not. We need to put the island of Ireland first. We stand by the vote of the people of the North. I heard clearly the State-limited vision of the Fianna Fáil leader. All of us here need an island-wide vision. Beidh tionchar mór ag Brexit ar an dá gheilleagar ar an oileán seo. That the Border will now become an international frontier between an EU member state and a non-member state creates particular concerns for the people of this island.

There is now a huge responsibility on our Government to think nationally, in the real sense of national which means on this island, the Thirty-two Counties. The Government, as a co-equal guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, also has a responsibility to defend that Agreement and its political institutions. Contrary to the assertion made today by the Fianna Fáil leader that this international treaty is predicated by membership of the co-equal guarantors within the European Union, that is not the case whatsoever.

The reality is that the British decision puts at risk the human rights legislation that underpins much of the Agreement, the cross-Border bodies and the all-Ireland structures. This must be resisted. Sinn Féin believes this can best be achieved by the maximum co-operation between the Executive and the Government in Dublin upholding the vote of the electorate in the North. While we would stand on the democratic position that British Government has no right to represent the North, in this particular instance, it has forfeited the claim to represent the North at EU level. Its policy was rejected by the people.

The Irish Government must work to promote the interests of whole island, and the North in particular, in future talks at EU level. It must support the rights of Ministers from the Executive to deal directly with the EU institutions. If the British Government has its way, this will be set aside and ignored because of the vote in England. The Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, must also respect the “Remain” vote. The majority of people, including many Unionists, rejected its exit policy. The DUP should embrace this. The people of the North have the right to have their voice heard and their vote respected. For the Government to ignore this is unacceptable. For the Fianna Fáil leadership to support the British position is shameful.

The democratic vote of the Scottish people is what is now determining the political approach of the Scottish Government to the EU and the British Government. The Scottish First Minister and her Cabinet yesterday decided to put into action their plan to negotiate with the EU and to prepare for a referendum on Scottish independence. Tá an Rialtas tar éis dhiúltú le glaoch Shinn Féin do reifreann chun Éireann a aontú. The vote in the North is what will determine Sinn Féin’s position. It should also determine that of the Irish Government.

I mbliana, tá muintir an oileáin tar éis comóradh céad bliain Éirí Amach 1916 a cheiliúradh. This centenary year, there has been a huge outpouring of solidarity with the men and women who fought for the freedom of Ireland - all of Ireland - 100 years ago. The Proclamation too has come into its own. Tá muid tar éis é sin a cheiliúradh fosta. The principles contained in the Proclamation of equality, rights and self-determination are resonating with citizens as never before. There is a greater understanding and appreciation of the vision and sacrifice of the men and women of 1916 now than at any time in our recent history. Sadly, like the Government’s insistence on appealing the High Court decision against the planned demolition of much of the Moore Street national monument, this Government embraces those bits of 1916 it likes while ignoring and undermining those bits it does not like. The Rising and the Proclamation were about the people of all Ireland, not this State, not Twenty-six Counties but all Thirty-two Counties. Successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and Labour Governments have forgotten that.

The Brexit vote reminds us of this. It also presents us with a unique opportunity to advance this cause in a democratic and peaceful way, and in a manner that has never existed before. We need to defend and promote the arrangements which protect the rights of every citizen, embrace all communities, and do so on the basis of equality and parity of esteem for everyone. This is a very appealing proposition, a democratic proposition and is entirely in keeping with the Good Friday Agreement.

This Dáil also needs to understand the divorce process between Britain and the EU is not straightforward. There is a significant entanglement of EU law with British law which has to be separated out. The EU and Britain, including the North, are inextricably connected in every sector of life, including the economy, farming, tourism, the health service, the criminal justice system, policing, the environment, climate change, infrastructure, community supports and investment, equality and workers’ rights law, and much more.

It is also likely that the Assembly in the North may have to give its legislative consent to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 which gives domestic effect to EU law and that too presents possibilities. The Brexit presents a historic challenge, but also an extraordinary opportunity to continue the process to end the injustice of partition and to build a new Ireland. To have one part of this island inside the EU and the other outside makes no sense. I think we are all agreed on that here today. Creideann Sinn Féin go bhfuil muintir an oileáin lán-ábalta ár gnóthaí féin a eagrú. The Irish Government needs to think nationally - not in a Twenty-six counties sense, but with an island wide view. We need to be planning for the future and not sustaining the mistakes of the past.

Several months ago a Canadian report entitled Modelling Irish Unification gave some sense of what is at least economically possible if we get rid of the Border. It concluded that there could be significant long-term improvements in the economies of both the North and the South. Three unification scenarios were presented, with one estimating a €35.6 billion boost in an all-island GDP in the first eight years of unification. It also found that there would be a long-term improvement in the Northern economy as a result of the removal of currency, trade and tax barriers which currently impede economic growth. At the same time, the South would benefit from barrier-free access to the Northern Irish market. By modelling three separate unification scenarios, the researchers showed a long-term improvement of GDP per capitain the North of 4% to 7.5% while the South would see a boost of 0.7% to 1.2%. There is evidence that unity is an economically viable project.

We all know what the alternatives will be. Beidh tionchar eacnamaíochta ag Brexit ar an oileán. Last week the Government said that the cost of Brexit to the Irish economy would be between €2.5 billion and €3 billion over the next two years. This means that the State’s GDP growth figures and its fiscal space projects may have to be revised downwards. When will the Government provide these revised fiscal space figures? The North too will lose a significant amount of EU funding, including funding for infrastructure, farming and rural communities and, not least, families along the Border. Will the next British Prime Minister be prepared to make up that loss? I very much doubt it.

The future for everyone on this island will be impacted by Brexit. There is no escape from this. The unaccountable nature of much of the EU bureaucracy, and a decision-making process that is often distant from citizens, is part of the reason for the Brexit vote. The treatment of Greece and the imposition of austerity policies on that state and others, including the people of this State, have also led to anger and frustration at the EU institutions. In our case, of course, the Government was infamously compliant with and to the EU elites. Working families paid the price for that folly. They are now due to pay once again. Mar sin, ní mór don Taoiseach a chuid dearcadh agus dearcadh a Rialtas a athrú go hiomlán. Ní mór dó seasamh do mhuintir an oileáin seo - achan duine ar an oileán. In our national interest we, including the Taoiseach, need to put the island of Ireland first.

There are other unacceptable aspects of the EU including, for example, the shameful agreement with Turkey over refugees, which our Government endorsed, although not in our name, and the failure of the EU to respond adequately and fairly to the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean. Sinn Féin has long been critical of aspects of the EU project and rightly so. We do not support a two-tier European Union in which a small number of large member states take it upon themselves to dictate economic or other policy to smaller states, and I note the Taoiseach's remarks in that regard.

Sinn Féin's approach to the European Union can best be described as a critical engagement. Where measures are in the interests of the Irish people and other working people across the Union, we support them and seek to further them.

Where they are not, we oppose them and campaign for change.

We are against the drive for further centralisation of powers in the hands of an unelected EU bureaucracy. Irish citizens do not want to be part of a province of an EU super state where technocrats take decisions with no accountability. For this reason Sinn Féin has resisted any attempt to undermine or dilute Irish neutrality. We Irish republicans want a different kind of European Union, a Union that is democratically accountable and transparent and that responds to the needs and desires of its citizens. We are for a social European Union, a Union of equals and of partnership and solidarity in which member states work together at times of adversity in the spirit of co-operation. The EU should collectively tackle the problems we face and work together to build opportunity and prosperity for citizens of the region.

The Brexit vote presents an opportunity to advance these objectives and to transform the EU into something better. I welcome the Taoiseach's briefing last week and the commitment to an inclusive approach to these problems. The task of everyone must be to agree policies and strategies that can minimise any problems that will arise as a consequence of Brexit and to use this crisis, if we are able, to create a new Ireland and a new European Union. This means insisting the Irish Government defends the interests of the island of Ireland at the European Council meeting this week and in any future negotiations, ensuring full co-operation between the Government and the Northern Executive, insisting the Irish Government, as a co-equal guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, defends it, its political institutions and cross-Border bodies, ensuring the equality and human rights elements of the Good Friday Agreement are protected, grasping the opportunity to redesign the constitutional and political future of the island of Ireland and of Europe, and demanding a referendum on Irish unity.

We can change the political conditions to make best use of this unique opportunity. The British Government has no democratic mandate to represent the views of the North in any future negotiations within and with the EU. There is an onus on the British Government to recognise and respect the voice of the people of the North. There is an even greater onus on the Irish Government to respect this vote and to defend and promote this as part of an all-island view of the future.

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