Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The one thing that is certain since the Brexit vote, which is clear from the outcome of the informal meeting on 29 June, is that nothing is certain. Nobody really knows what will happen over the coming period while we wait for the British to initiate the Article 50 procedure, or what the outcome of negotiations will be during that period. The only thing we and our Government can do is to ensure we put ourselves in a strong enough position to argue very strongly on an all-island basis that no hard borders be put in place and that trade on an all-island basis be allowed to continue.

It is interesting to see the way the media has tried to stoke up hysteria around this whole situation over the last number of weeks. On the way down here today I listened to the chairpersons of the chambers of commerce in Newry and in Dundalk talk about the impact on the exchange rate, how it is affecting their towns and how business can be done. They did not want to get into any hysteria-raising on the part of Sean O'Rourke, who interviewed them. They said that they had lived through this - and it is a fact that people in Border areas have lived constantly with exchange rate fluctuations and the differences that result. Sometimes it is to the benefit of us in the South, and we get people coming from the North and shopping here. Other times, probably most times, it has been to the benefit of traders in the North, with people going in the opposite direction to avail of the benefits there due to the exchange rate with sterling. We need to be clear and keep a clear head. The Government needs to put Irish interests first. That is key. We can be sure that every other member state in the European Union will put its interests first when it comes to the negotiations with the UK.

It is also important to note that the UK does not have a trade surplus with any European member state. In fact, Germany has a trade surplus with the UK of more than €50 billion a year, so the Germans stand to lose a hell of a lot. The UK is the second-biggest trade surplus it has, so it will not negotiate a deal that hammers Germany. We are in a strong enough position in that every other member state stands to lose out substantially. The Netherlands has a trade surplus of more than €20 billion with the UK and France has a trade surplus of about €9 billion. It will not be in their interests to make sure that a hard border comes to pass. We have to use that as one of our strengths in the negotiations.

It will take a long time to analyse why so many people in the UK voted to leave the European Union, but when we look at it, we see that so many people have been left behind by neoliberal policies and the growth of the financial sector in England. So many people in the north and outside the south-east have been left behind and seen their jobs go. They were told during the campaign that a Brexit would affect the economy, but they looked at it and said, "It won't make any difference to us, because we've been left behind anyway and we're being punished by what's going on."

I personally do not believe that the European Union is reformable. If, however, it is serious about reform, it has to work towards becoming a community of partners and not what it has developed into over the last six or seven years, where might is right and if one's economy is big enough one can dictate to other countries and impose one's will on them. It has been rehashed here on a number of occasions how we were treated through our bailout. If we look at how Greece, Spain and Portugal have been treated, we can see that it is a European Union of might which dictates. If the EU is to be reformed, that has to change.

The Taoiseach gave us a summary of his contributions and participation at the European Council. By his own account, the only intervention he made at the Council meeting was when he stressed that the Commission should follow through and seek to agree a TTIP deal with the United States. He said this was a huge opportunity to set the standards of global trade for the next 50 years. It certainly is. It is a huge opportunity for transnational capital to take control of trade for the next 50 years and ensure that countries such as Ireland are kept under their firm control. If that is the only input the Taoiseach can make into the Council, it is a sad reflection of where we will be at the end of these negotiations about the UK's leaving the EU.

In his summary of what happened, the Taoiseach did not mention that NATO representatives attended the Council and received the EU's global strategy on foreign and security policy. It is interesting that he omitted to mention that fact and its potential impact. We know from the report of the strategy that it calls for ever-closer integration in terms of military spending and policy across the EU member states. I wonder what the Government's attitude is to that. I think I know what the Government's attitude will be because it will say one thing here. We know, however, that the Minister for Defence is attending the EU-NATO congress in Poland in the coming days, where a pact between the EU and NATO will be signed. What will Ireland's role be concerning this ever-growing military union? Will the Government outline what our role will be? It is highly important and will be of great interest to many people across the country.

See this speech in context