Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The people of the North have the right to be Irish citizens. Hundreds of thousands in the North today are Irish citizens and the number is growing. This makes them EU citizens and the responsibility of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. In a few short years, these Irish and EU citizens will be stranded under an increasingly isolated London Government. The foundation stone for the hard-won peace process in the North has been the notion of consent. Consent has been pivotal to the development of stability. The majority of the people of the North have voted to remain in the EU and they have not consented to be sundered from the developing all-Ireland economy. The London Government seeks to throw this consent in the dustbin of history. The Minister has a responsibility in that regard.

Self-determination is pivotal to republican political ideology. Ireland was on its knees 100 years ago. One of the worst famines in European history was still a vivid memory for many. The country had been emptied of nearly 3 million people through death and emigration. Given that the Union Jack flew over every town in the country for hundreds of years, representing the largest empire the world had ever seen, freedom and self-determination must have seemed impossible. To a growing number of Irish men and women, however, it was clear that self-determination was an absolute necessity for survival. They set about a revolution that changed the course of all our lives. Just a few dozen miles up the road in towns such as Newry, Armagh and Enniskillen, Irish people have democratically self-determined that they wish to remain in the EU. However, for those people not much has changed in the last 100 years. The North remains a forgotten backwater, hardly featuring on the home counties' Tory radar. Shockingly, the pivotal self-determination of the Northern electorate in regard to Brexit is being ignored and disregarded by London. Shockingly, what happens to the Border on this island and to our national interest remain beyond our democratic control 100 years after the Rising.

Unbelievable as it may seem, I produced last year the first report since partition of an Oireachtas committee on the all-Ireland economy. Despite all our talk of the all-Ireland economy, precious little research has been done on it. For the report, I interviewed hundreds of people of differing backgrounds throughout the island of Ireland including academics, businesspeople, trade unionists, trade organisations, public representatives, farmers, State officials and local authority representatives, all of whom said our future was stronger in an all-Ireland economy. All of that will come to nothing if Brexit continues on its current trajectory. We are told that Britain and the North will leave the Single Market and the customs union. We are told the free movement of people between Britain and the EU will end. We are told product, service, environment and labour regulations will diverge on these two islands. In the same breath, we are told it will be okay. This is dangerous nonsense. That circle cannot be squared through all the negotiation and goodwill in the world and especially not by a subservient Government sitting on its hands. The only way the will and consent of the people of the North can be fulfilled is if the North remains within the EU. The only future for the Good Friday Agreement is in the context of the EU. The only hope for an all-Ireland economy is if the North receives special status within the EU and the only way that will happen is if the Government opposite gets off its docile butt and starts to campaign with us.

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