Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The First Minister has thus far shown little acknowledgement of the view of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland who voted for the United Kingdom to remain within the European Union. It is fair to say that the Taoiseach probably mishandled the matter during the summer. The First Minister's dismissal of those who fear Brexit as remoaners was a bad signal.

That said, the Taoiseach has said that the recent discussion in the North-South Ministerial Council was the best ever. A cynic might say that it had to be, given what went before it. Could he indicate to the House the specific outcome of the North-South Material Council discussions? Has he agreed to carry out a joint assessment of the impact of Brexit, in particular on the Border region? It would be very useful if the Executive and Government could agree a joint assessment of the impact.

Did the Taoiseach discuss the acknowledgement of the Northern Ireland Office in the Agnew and others case in the High Court in Belfast? It is an important case. The Northern Ireland Office essentially argued that the Belfast Agreement and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 are in no way impacted by the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. The argument was that the European context for the peace settlement is essentially irrelevant. It was also claimed that the Northern Ireland Assembly has fewer rights in regard to legislative consent than the other devolved Governments.

It is a reasonable reading of London's position on this case to say that it reserves the right to act unilaterally in regard to Northern Ireland. I would be interested in hearing the position of the Government, as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, on the importance of the European Union provisions in that Agreement. Does the Taoiseach accept that residents of Northern Ireland must continue to have recourse to the European Convention on Human Rights, no matter what happens. It is a very important consideration. Would it be possible for the Government to publish a legal analysis of the position of the United Kingdom in regard to this?

In the overall context, the ESRI and the Department of Finance published a very good study last week on the likely impact of different Brexit scenarios on Ireland. The core finding was there was near complete consensus that Brexit will have a very significant negative impact on the United Kingdom. This is not a view held solely by economists here, but also by those across Europe. This will have a further significant negative impact on Ireland. Various calculations have been carried out on soft and hard Brexit that show 2% could be added to the unemployment figures, there could be a decrease in public revenues and a significant decline in national incomes over time in Ireland.

The study also stated that Northern Ireland would be hit harder than any other region. It all adds up to a dramatic threat to our economic future. By any yardstick, this is the greatest structural change to how our economic model operates in 45 years. There is no question about that. We entered into the EU Single Market with Britain, and it will now exit. It is already happening in the context of the decline in sterling.

I get the sense that the country has not yet seized the significance of what is happening. I genuinely feel that the budget was a missed opportunity in terms of making the public aware that Brexit will have an immediate impact and that we need to put funding aside. I suspect there are things we will have to do in order to stabilise jobs in Irish-owned companies which have tight margins in terms of exporting to the UK. We have to do something regarding VAT rates. We should put it to the European Union that state aid rules may have to be amended in order to cover the transition phase governing our economy as Britain leave the European Union.

It is an unprecedented scenario. It is almost akin to accession treaties through which countries join the European Union. Within those treaties, countries are given transition phases in order to adjust to the new realities.

Have we put it to the European Union that we need room and it will have to consider supporting our position and the island in general? Where stands the argument around Northern Ireland having a special status that straddles the European Union and Republic of Ireland while at the same time being part of the United Kingdom?

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