Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

During statements in advance of the meeting of the European Council on 15 December, I raised with the Taoiseach a number of important issues, not least Brexit. Since then there have been several developments, including the British Prime Minister, Theresa May's speech last Tuesday and a ruling by the British Supreme Court yesterday morning. In her speech last week the British Prime Minister laid out her stall and her vision for a post-Brexit Britain. Her vision, if we could call it that, shows she is intent on ignoring the views of the people of the North who, we should not forget, voted to remain in the European Union. Far from voting with their eyes open to leave the European Union, as Ms May claims, the mandate from citizens there was clear: no to a little Englander approach and no to a hard Border.

Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling was entirely predictable. It has implications for the role of the Administrations in the North, Scotland and Wales, and Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, was scathing about this yesterday. Despite the Supreme Court's ruling, however, no court or government can overrule the democratically expressed wishes of the people of the North to remain within the EU, particularly this Parliament and the parties in this Dáil. The British Government may be intent on ignoring it, but the Taoiseach and his Government cannot. He will sit at the negotiating table and he must put the case, as I have put it to him many times, for a special designated status for the North within the European Union. He asked me yesterday to spell out what I mean when I speak of designated special status but today he tells me that he understands our proposal fully, which is proof that a day is a long time in politics. His newly discovered knowledge of the Sinn Féin position makes his failure to argue this even more reprehensible.

We want a status for the North with its unique constitutional status based on the vote of the people there. What could be simpler, more straightforward and democratic than that? That means protecting the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement's constitutional and institutional arrangements. It means unfettered access for the entire island of Ireland to the benefits of the European Single Market and the customs union. It means remaining part of the common travel area with no Border controls or EU frontier on the island of Ireland, maintaining all EU funding streams, protecting EU access to employment, social security, health care, workers' rights and conditions, including health and safety - these are all things that will go - working hours, maternity and paternity leave, contracts, access to pensions and so on. It also means ensuring Irish citizens in the North, who will continue to be citizens of the EU, continue to enjoy all the rights of such citizenship. There is a precedent for these unique arrangements, and if there is the political will that has been lacking so far in our Government, it can be achieved. The Irish Government has a moral and legal duty to stand up for the rights of all citizens in the North. I once again urge the Taoiseach to adopt that position of seeking a designated special status for the North and to pursue it vigorously in the upcoming negotiations with the other EU member states and with Britain.

As part of this, an all-island vision is crucial and the commitment to Irish unity by the Government and all parties here is fundamental. We have all signed up to change the status of the North, if that is what the people decide, and the reality of the all-island and all-Ireland nature of the Good Friday Agreement are clear evidence of the unique nature of the Northern statelet. Proof that the North, contrary to protestations from the Labour Party and the Taoiseach, is a disputed territory is also clear from that part of the Good Friday Agreement which obliges the two Governments to legislate for Irish unity if that is what the people vote for. Before this the British had made an absolute and totally illegitimate claim to that part of our island. Before partition they claimed the entire island equally illegitimately. I am very proud of the fact that Sinn Féin got rid of that when we got agreement from Mr. Blair to end the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The British claim to the North is now highly conditional. Our efforts in this Dáil, even as we deal with the consequences of Brexit, must be to create the conditions where the people will opt for unity. We have to work at that. That is a big challenge but it is well within our ability if we have the will to work for this necessary objective and to set aside party political rivalries to do so. That means all of us should be persuaders for unity.

In the meantime, we should stop ignoring the vote of the people in the North and uphold their democratic right to remain in the European Union with a special designated status. I welcome what I think I understand to be the Fianna Fáil position on that. I want the Taoiseach to take up the same position.

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