Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is plenty that Irish exporters can do right now to prepare for Brexit. They could consider currency hedging to protect against further falls in sterling. They could review supply chains to protect against potential tariffs and other trade barriers They could look at their international pricing to offset falls in sterling since Brexit. They could explore new customer markets and new products, and conduct financial reviews to ensure cashflow is protected from some of the known risks associated with Brexit.

Some Irish firms know how to do this and are doing so, but many do not. They need direct assistance, and this means the Government needs to free up resources for Enterprise Ireland and other sectoral agencies in order that they can engage directly with companies. Running regional events and constituency events is not enough. Companies need to be engaged with directly.

On Northern Ireland, the Government's activity to date is decidedly mixed, it has to be said. To the Government’s credit, the issues of Northern Ireland have been well flagged diplomatically in Brussels. Government spokespeople were out in force on Friday to proclaim a diplomatic victory when we saw the European Commission's draft negotiating guidelines for Brexit. The guidelines recognise the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland and include the stated aim of avoiding a hard border. They also speak to how the EU should recognise existing bilateral agreements between the UK and Ireland. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, described the result as as good as could have been hoped for. Maybe or maybe not, as to me this suggests a pretty low level of ambition. The existing bilateral agreements between the UK and Ireland should be recognised, but it is important to state the EU guidelines put a caveat on this, which is if they are compatible with EU law.

There is broad support for retention of the common travel area, but what about the full reciprocity of rights between the UK and Ireland? What happens when Irish citizens want to work in Northern Ireland and it is no longer possible for French, Spanish or Italian citizens to do so but it is covered by the common travel area? Will it fall foul of EU law? It may or it may not and then there is Gibraltar. Prime Minister Rajoy has obtained a veto on what happens in Gibraltar in terms of its future relationship with the EU. Ireland got warm words. We have had warm words previously. In July 2012, the EU inserted words into a statement on sharing the burden of the bank bailout. The Taoiseach described it as a seismic shift for Ireland and the then Tánaiste told us it was a game changer. However, as we all suspected, those warm words turned out to be empty, meaningless, vacuous words. The population of Gibraltar is 30,000 people. The population of Northern Ireland is 1.8 million. There are 60 times more people living in Northern Ireland than in Gibraltar but where the Irish Government got, admittedly, warm words on Northern Ireland, Spain got a veto.

Brexit could be a disaster for Northern Ireland. More than half of its exports are to the EU, and 87% of farm income in the North comes from the Common Agricultural Policy. It will no longer be in the Common Agricultural Policy. A total of 30,000 people cross the Border on a daily basis to work. EU peace funding has delivered €3.5 billion over the past 25 years to the Border regions, North and South. Special status must be afforded to Northern Ireland, as called for and voted through by the House. We should seek ways to include ongoing access for Northern Ireland to the Single Market, EU sectoral programmes and EU peace funding. None of these is being actively pursued as far as we can see.

If there is to be a border, we should seek to have it moved off the island of Ireland. This could be done with border controls in Belfast, Derry and Larne. The common travel area must be secured but not just in terms of free movement. The UK and Ireland enjoy full reciprocity of citizens' rights. We can vote in the UK and they can vote here. It is a unique relationship and it must be protected in totality. Simply protecting a common travel area will not be enough.

The Government should seek to remove as much uncertainty as possible from these negotiations. This is something it has failed to do. The EU position is the divorce talks must happen first and if Monsieur Barnier's team is satisfied the UK is behaving itself, it will go back to the European Council and seek a second mandate to begin informal trade talks. Then those high-level guidelines will have to be turned into detailed directives and then they can begin talks. That could take a year.

Every month that the trade talks are delayed is an additional month of risk and uncertainty for Ireland, Irish companies and Irish jobs. The EU's position is what it is, and we are unambiguously on the side of the EU and will support that position. Before it was locked in, the Government, the Taoiseach and relevant Ministers should have been calling for those negotiations to happen at the same time. They should have been doing so publicly and, to the best of my knowledge, not one of them ever did. I stand to be corrected if that is not true, but personally, I have listened to many statements and I have never heard them say that.

Similarly, we must call for an early transition period agreement. To the Taoiseach's credit, he mentioned that in his opening statement yesterday. It is fair to say tensions are high on both sides and they have been escalating. It is simply the case that the UK took a pretty open mandate for Brexit, picked up the Brexit ball and ran towards a hard Brexit. That has not gone down well in Ireland, nor should it. It has not gone down well with our EU member state colleagues. That can be seen reflected in the tone of the EU guidelines. They take a very hard line. It is in everybody's interests, in Ireland's interests, in Europe's interests and in the UK's interests that people step back from the cliff that they are beginning to walk towards. Ireland is a small country in Europe, but we have unique exposure to Brexit. We have a unique relationship with the UK. While we are unambiguously on the side of the EU 27, we can play a role in facilitating as little change as possible and in helping the parties, I hope, to step back from what is currently like a very hard Brexit.

See this speech in context