Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appeal to the Minister of State to ensure this issue is raised at every EU Council meeting. How can the Taoiseach deal with it? I ask him to give it the high level priority it should have.

The Taoiseach also mentioned that Ireland has raised our concerns over the protection of minority populations, including Christians, at the UN Human Rights Council. I put it to the Taoiseach, however, that this has effectively proved itself to be quite useless. All we seem to get are lectures from the UN and from UN commissions on this, that and other issues, while at the same time, there is this glaring thing going on under the watch of the UN and it hardly says a word about it. It lectures us about some issues in Ireland that we are not observing human rights, this right, that right and the other right. Despite this, there is the most glaring and savage act of continuing persecution that has gone on for a decade or more and the UN is simply standing idly by. Will the Taoiseach agree that we need to do far more to escalate action around this serious issue? I ask the Minister of State to pass that on to the Taoiseach and to the Minister, Deputy Flanagan.

On another matter entirely, I would like to raise the issue of Brexit and the effect and impact it will have on Irish agriculture. It will be devastating. After Prime Minister May's speech last week, we were told this and that. Will the Taoiseach indicate what support we are receiving from our so-called European partners on this matter? We are in a very awkward situation with the land Border between Northern Ireland and ourselves and how we are placed geographically beside our nearest traders, Great Britain. If it pulls out, we will surely have a special position. We must surely have that recognised. God knows we have been good enough Europeans and good enough lapdogs to go over to Ms Merkel. She says, "Jump", and we say, "How high?"

We saw what happened with the banking crisis when the Europeans shovelled in the money when are our banks were bust. The bondholders and everyone else got off scot free. It is surely payback time now. We have had many hours of need, but this is one. It is a total imponderable. We do not know what the impact will be. We have a fair idea of the impact because of the figures from the trade we do with England. Prime Minister May has refused to address any Deputies or take questions from them. I suppose she is dead right, she is a sovereign leader. Britain is going to look after itself. We are going to be the poor relation off the coast of Europe that is left behind unless we stand up, act up, man and woman up and challenge the EU that we have a right to a place.

We have been good Europeans since 1973. I campaigned at that time as a young boy with my family. So much has changed. We have seen the cause of Brexit. It is because there is so much regulation and such an uncaring attitude from the powerful nations in Europe. We are kind of seen as the poor relation. This is going to prove it. The EU has the chance and opportunity now to give us special status and to try to soften the hard Brexit. The thought of a hard Border is awful. I travelled during the summer between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. A motorway was built between them. I saw the hard border there. There were lines of traffic and queues. The bus driver resorted to bribery to get through quickly. All 52 passports on the bus were looked for before we were let through. Are we going to face that land Border in Newry, Aughnacloy and many more places like that? That cannot happen. We cannot go back to that. It is too awful to go back to it. We saw what happened the other night in Belfast and what can happen. We saw how near to that we are.

We have a very special relationship within the EU. We have a special relationship with our nearest neighbours in England and in Northern Ireland. One day, I hope it will all be the one country. I am surprised at the way some of the people voted, but that is how they did vote. We need special treatment for this. We are not going to get it unless we ask for it, shout about it and go over and demand it. We cannot be saying it softly, softly, as we have been, because the EU is not listening. They are not good listeners anyway. They have to listen to us now, or we will have to look at other options.

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