Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim mo bhuíochas leat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Is deas an rud é tú a fheiceáil arís. Tá súil agam go raibh sos maith agat.

I do not have the time to get into the detail I had prepared. We can speculate all we want about what the British might do, but it is very important to spend a lot of time figuring out what we will do. I listened carefully to the Taoiseach's answer to my question where I asked him if he would accept the vote of the people in the North. He said that yes, he does accept the vote of the people in the North, the people in Scotland, the people in England and the people in Wales. While I do not want to put words in his mouth, he went on to say something to the effect that this was a collective decision or a corporate decision. That is the nub of this problem. The Taoiseach has to accept, advocate and promote actively the vote of the people in the North. There is no getting out of it. He has to do that or else say he does not accept that approach. Either way there must be clarity from the Government on the issue. It follows through that if he is not clear, then he will not be clear with the British Prime Minister. He has to say to the British Prime Minister that the vote was taken.

The Taoiseach mentioned Greenland, which is a good example. It is an autonomous part of Denmark, which is a member state and yet Greenland is outside the EU while Denmark is in the EU. So there are arrangements and the EU is not an inflexible structure. The leadership falls upon the Taoiseach at this time.

The Taoiseach also said that both Governments reaffirmed their commitment to the peace process. I do not believe this Government is committed to underpinning, building and promoting the peace process, as it is required to do. For example, did the Taoiseach ask the British Prime Minister about her decision to scrap the human rights Act, which is a total undermining of the Good Friday Agreement?

The Taoiseach will know, or he should know, that the Ballymurphy families walked out of a meeting with the British Secretary of State who refused to fund legacy requests that are outstanding, some for more than 25 years. Within the Northern Executive, the DUP is also blocking this. That is despite the fact that the North's Lord Chief Justice, Declan Morgan, has proposed a five-year plan to clear the backlog in all of this. If our Government has not got its head around that and we just get these bland statements that the two Governments are supportive of the peace process, then the damage done by Brexit will be more deeply rooted and devastating than we might be able to contemplate at this time.

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