Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

He should whisper.

In recent months we have asked the Government to negotiate these positions with the other 26 EU members. It has failed to do that. The position the Government has signed up to requires that the North leave the European Union. Once again, we have an Irish Government reinforcing the Border. The Government should be working to secure designated status and acting in the interests of all Irish citizens, including those who are British, instead of following the English Tory line on Brexit.

As a result of the Government's clear failures, the draft negotiating directives published last week by Michel Barnier are vague and aspirational. That is neither the fault of Michel Barnier nor the European Commission but the responsibility of An Taoiseach. Mr. Barnier is well disposed towards Ireland but he will and can only do what he is asked to do. When he visits the Oireachtas on Thursday, I would like to think he will hear the clear message that the North should be designated special status within the European Union. That is the position the Dáil voted for, but it is not the position being advocated by the Taoiseach or the Government. Instead, the Taoiseach is advocating the Fine Gael position and that is unacceptable.

The Taoiseach has also refused to accept the vote of the Northern electorate and he has refused to explain why he has not advocated this position. If the Government had advocated for the North to remain within the EU, the European Council guidelines and Barnier's draft directives could have gone considerably further.

Instead, the Taoiseach is making a big point of saying that there is no Northern Ireland Assembly in place. He knows why this is so. Let us remember that the Taoiseach has some limited experience of dealing with the DUP. He failed to get Arlene Foster to have the DUP involved in the civic dialogue initiative. He knows also that it is the DUP's refusal to fulfil its obligations on the rights of citizens that has blocked progress in the North. He knows that the DUP is for Brexit. He also knows that his position on the ongoing – although suspended at the moment - negotiations in the North has been one of studied detachment. Certainly, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has been in Belfast but he rarely talks to the DUP. That is no fault of the Minister. More accurately, the DUP rarely talks to him. In fact, it would be interesting to know how often our Minister has met DUP leaders. The Taoiseach knows all about the DUP disposition, as does the Fianna Fáil leader. Both leaders called for the suspension of the assembly, yet both criticise Martin McGuinness for taking a stand against allegations of corruption and for good governance based on equality. Despite all of this, seldom will an opportunity to discuss Brexit pass without the Taoiseach or the Fianna Fáil leader blaming Sinn Féin for what is happening or not happening in the assembly in the North.

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