Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have looked at the register. Every political entity, including all the tiny parties all over the United Kingdom, registered because they wanted to spend more than £10,000 on their campaigns because this was such an important issue. It is remarkable that Sinn Féin did not do that. Registration not only allowed parties to spend money, it allowed them access to polling stations and so on.

The Labour Party supports the SDLP's call for a bespoke deal for Northern Ireland to address the following issues post-Brexit: strengthening of existing all-island institutions; continued cross-Border co-operation; guarantees of funding for Northern Ireland beyond 2020; recognition of the rights of the 200,000 persons resident on the island who are neither Irish nor British citizens; and the need for parity of esteem in human rights across the island of Ireland. My colleague, Deputy Joan Burton, has also called for the creation of a separate component or strand within Brexit talks to deal exclusively with Ireland-UK matters. That is an idea worthy of consideration, particularly given that the European Commission and Council appear to have already established an impenetrable structure for its negotiations, the detail of which I tortuously tried to grasp yesterday.

Like many of my colleagues, I am concerned that the impact on Ireland may become collateral damage to a wider EU row with the UK. What we are hearing in terms of some of the rhetoric being uttered is that Ireland, sitting in the middle ground, may become squeezed between the hardline Brexiteers and the arch Federalists. In terms of this motion, Sinn Féin is seeking special status within the European Union for Northern Ireland. That is a position I support but it will realistically be very difficult to achieve when the reality is that the largest political party in Northern Ireland is happy to leave the EU. Critically, while there is a precedent in Greenland for an autonomous region to leave the European Union while the parent state remains, there is no precedent for a state to leave and one of its regions to remain within the EU. The EU works on the basis of state rather than regional membership, at least so far.

The report by Mr. Daniel McConnell in the Irish Examinerthat the Government is examining locations for customs checkpoints is a portent of what might await us. A border might well be back in some shape or form despite the assurances of the Taoiseach and Prime Minister, Theresa May. Outside of a fast-tracked united Ireland that may be the reality. Whatever status we arrive at, it is the turmoil that exit will create that is the real challenge for our politics and public policy. As a Westminster committee was recently told, "In future you will not be able to walk your dog on Slieve Russell unless you have a passport for the dog." In truth, the range of questions that Brexit has placed before us demand detailed and forensic answers.

I have previously given one example of the complex situation we are facing, namely, the North-South interconnector and the common energy market. I choose this issue not because it is the most serious issue, because there are many more, but instead of grappling with the complexities of these issues and seeking to chart national responses to them the Government believes that a nationwide roadshow and repeat of the same slogans again and again will suffice. We need to have very public engagement on all the forensic work that is happening within Departments on all the issues, including tourism, energy policy, agriculture, industry, aviation, shipping and transport. If the picture were not alarming enough already the evidence of the former head of the European Commission customs procedures to MPs two weeks ago was further reason to sit up and take note. At that time he bluntly stated that if Northern Ireland is not part of the European Union customs territory then there will be a customs border. Of even more concern is that the ESRI has found that Ireland would lose 4% of total exports under a hard Brexit outcome. Some 4% is huge. It would hit most in the job intensive sectors such as agrifood and tourism. Some 4% of our exports in 2015 amounted to €4.5 billion. As Ireland's recovery takes hold and our people start to feel some sense that there is a future for this country after the lost decade, Brexit could not come at a worse time. For this reason, we have argued for advance planning on the European side and for the expansion of tools such as the European Globalisation Fund. I again ask the Minister to lay out in forensic detail the plans that this country is making.

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