Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach failed to get this clause included as part of the EU negotiating guidelines. In the four weeks since the publication of the draft guidelines, the Taoiseach succeeding in achieving one minor amendment to Article 11 dealing with Ireland which involved the addition of the words "in all its parts", a reference to the Good Friday Agreement. The Government failed to secure a commitment that no agreement on the Border or the status of the North could be achieved between the European Union and Britain without a separate and binding agreement between the Irish Government and Britain. This would have provided the Irish Government with a veto similar to that secured by Spain in respect of Gibraltar. I suspect we did not get that because we did not ask for it. In all my questioning of him the Taoiseach has refused to either confirm or deny this. Instead, he has achieved a commitment to flexible and imaginative solutions with the aim of avoiding a hard Border. This is aspirational, wishy-washy rhetoric in a world of substantive and difficult negotiations and it is not good enough.

The Taoiseach cites the hard work done by our public officials and I agree with him absolutely and commend them all. Officials act, however, on the political direction they are given by the Government. The visionary direction the challenges of these times demand is not being provided. Among our partners in the EU, there is solid support for the island of Ireland, the peace process and the unique and special circumstances faced by Ireland as a result of Brexit. In case people do not know, I remind the House, in particular the leader of Fianna Fáil and the Taoiseach, that the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party are for Brexit. There is no possibility of getting them to change their position nor, perhaps, should we ask them to do so. What was achieved, which was significant, was the letter signed by the late Martin McGuinness and Arlene Foster which set out a good piece of common ground on the practical realities of the consequences of Brexit. We have support or at least sympathy in the EU. I spoke to the President of the Bundestag recently and he told me that while there was support for Ireland, unless we put forward our ambitious positions, we should not expect anybody else to do it for us. That is very good advice indeed. The Taoiseach has failed to put forward the ambitious vision required and he has failed to harness the potential support and sympathy that is there.

The Taoiseach has also broken the commitment he gave two months ago to publish a consolidated paper on the Irish Government's negotiation priorities in advance of last weekend's summit. What influence on the outcome or on the Government's position does it give the House to be briefed and given a paper after the event? I am sure the Taoiseach will concede that he might get the odd good idea from this side of the Chamber which could be used in the national interest.

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