Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Here we are nine months later. The letter is written but we are still very much in the dark as to the potential consequences of Brexit. I fear that it has not dawned on people what those consequences will be either in the case of a soft Brexit, a hard Brexit or in the nightmare scenario where there is no agreement and tariffs start to be imposed.

It is only fair to acknowledge that the Government has done a lot of good work in getting the Border issue and the issue of Northern Ireland recognised. Instead of rhetoric, we must acknowledge that there have been achievements. That was obvious in the European Commission paper that followed the British letter of exit. However, it is beyond me - I am not particularly technological - how a country where the biggest issue in the Brexit campaign was immigration will come up with a scenario that will result in a soft Border. We all want it but we need to start seeing models of what that will look like and the location of the Border because there will have to be some element of a border. It might be time to re-examine our notions of a border in the context of this but we have just about two years to do it.

I was in Brussels as part of a party delegation some weeks ago. There is no understanding in Brussels of the impact on the Irish economy and of the fact that we are specifically in the downstream of Brexit in a manner that other countries are not. When we raise the economic issue, there is ignorance as to our dependence on the UK market. The example they kept throwing back at us was France and the Netherlands. They, too, are dependent on the UK market, although not to the same extent as Ireland.

Bord Bia's report on the impact on food and agriculture spoke about increased trade costs, which are applicable all over the EU, the decline in the value of the Irish food industry as a consequence of the currency exchanges, and the potential of 25,000 redundancies. That should have been a wake-up call for everybody in terms of the potential impact of Brexit, but it was not. We are sauntering along. Even this evening there are only four Deputies in the Chamber talking about this impending tsunami that will come at us. That may be a failure of politics or everybody. We are all involved in Brexit issues. We are all having meetings and conferences. It is the old méar fhada, except this méar fhada will run out of fada very shortly.

I heard the Minister of State, Deputy Murphy, speak about an event for business tomorrow. It will be interesting to get their feedback from the past three weeks since the letter was lodged and this became very real in terms of UK business and UK inquiries. We will now begin to see the effect of it in terms of falls in inquiries. We can see it in the tourism industry, and that worries me. It worries me in the context of remarks made by the Minister, Deputy Noonan, earlier today around the stability programme update where he downplayed the initial impact of Brexit. It has not particularly hit our economy yet but it has the potential to do so, and we cannot downplay it.

What I would hold the Government to account for is the failure to ramp up investment significantly. I am not talking about one or two places. I am talking about significant investment in staff capability in Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Bord Bia and all our overseas promotional agencies. There is no sense in us talking up new markets if we are not putting the bodies into it. Putting two or three bodies into a market like India or China is irrelevant. We are lucky we have such an excellent spirit and cadre in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that have built relationships but the Department cannot do it by itself. IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland need more resources to build the new markets and protect the ones we have so that we protect the jobs of people in this island who will be affected.

We must also become ambitious and serious about our capital investment programme. As a country we have failed to engage with the Juncker plan in a meaningful or ambitious manner. We have used it to build primary care centres. On the other hand, the Polish Government has used it to restock Poland's railway system, a proper investment with access around the country. We need to make a number of serious investments that Brexit-proof this economy. We need a north-west motorway, proper motorway connections and broadband that will enable various agencies to operate outside the capital. We need to become serious about this city. There is no sense in us trying to attract employers from the City of London when we cannot guarantee accommodation, transport and basic communications. This city must present itself as a Brexit location but it must make decisions about easing planning in the city if we are to be a venue of choice that is attractive to people who might leave the City of London. There is consultation around the national planning framework but that must also be Brexit-proofed. Where we make the investments through that and the capital review, which is also under way, we should do so in a manner that ensures the areas that will be hit hardest by Brexit, such as the Border, regional areas and areas furthest from this city, are given a basic level of infrastructure to allow them to fight and take this on.

Brexit is effectively a declaration of war against the Irish economy and we must fight back in the same way we would fight a declaration of war, and that is with might and a sense of purpose. This is not happening at the moment. A lot of good work is happening but there is no sense of the seriousness of this situation being put across. Deputy Fitzpatrick referred to people spreading panic. It is not panic. It is being real. When our biggest trading partner splits away from us for the first time in many decades, it is a real threat to every part of the island.

The EU needs to look in the mirror, so to speak. I have made criticisms, and since last June I have seen no sense that the EU establishment is looking at itself in the mirror and looking at why a country that had been in two world wars and did not have a third world war because of the impact of the EU decided to leave that body. The EU has not looked at the reasons it has moved away from the citizens of Europe whom it aims to bring together. There is no sense of modesty or fault being expressed on the part of those European leaders. Instead, we get this sense of them wanting to teach Great Britain a lesson and not hearing the lessons they should have learned. Unless the EU hears those lessons and makes changes to the institution, there is the possibility of further exits. An excellent idea that has left a most amazing legacy of peace, political stability and economic advancement in some cases will be left because of the folly and ego of some European leaders who do not see their role in Brexit and undermining the EU. The EU is supposed to be about people. It needs to remember that. As a small country, we should be leading an alliance of smaller nations in terms of resetting Europe back to basic principles, representing people, defending their rights and a Union of equals rather than some superpower that has everybody else dancing to its tune, because that is what we have had for the past number of years.

My party has made a commitment in terms appointing a party spokesperson on Brexit. I look at the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. His focus is purely on Northern Ireland, where it should be, to try to bring about a resolution there. Other Ministers are running around doing their jobs but dealing with Brexit as an add-on. The Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, is doing the job that every Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs has done since that portfolio was created. Deputies are right in that there are opportunities, but for us to maximise those opportunities we must invest. To address the threats, we must have some form of co-ordination rather than having 30 or possibly 40 Ministers being in charge of it. That is not going to work, particularly as 2019 approaches. In respect of the notion that the Taoiseach is the Minister for Brexit, I am afraid his attention is on exit, not on Brexit. Unless the Government wakes up, Brexit will be the worst possible outcome for Ireland.

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