Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

It is evident that there is a new sacred cow in Irish politics. The traditional sacred cow of the establishment has been our corporation tax rate. It could not be touched and was the cornerstone of anything good that happened in this country. The new sacred cow is the received wisdom among the political parties and political commentators that Brexit, by definition, is a bad thing for people in Britain and for ordinary people in this country. I do not accept that received wisdom. I certainly believe it could be a bad thing. The Brexit Theresa May has in mind - a so-called bargain basement Brexit - would be disastrous from the point of view of ordinary workers in Britain and in this country, particularly if the Government responds as it appears to be responding. However, I do not accept that this is predetermined or that there is no alternative exit possible. I refer, for example, to a left-style exit that could open the door to a serious discussion in Europe about what type of Europe we want and that could assist in a struggle for a different, socialist Europe that would put the interests of working people first.

In order to have a real discussion about Brexit, there must be clarity on what the European Union is and on the European Union British people voted to leave. One would get the impression from many of the discussions in this Chamber that it is a land of milk and honey, peace, prosperity, democracy, human rights and so forth. That is very far from the truth. The European Union is an undemocratic land of authoritarian neoliberalism, war, militarisation and misery for millions of people in crisis. It is racked by substantial crises. It is worth noting the events of last weekend. Many within the establishments across Europe breathed a sigh of relief when Emmanuel Macron was elected President of France. They thought that by dressing up neoliberalism in new suits and socks the collapse of the extreme centre had been stemmed. However, that illusion has been contradicted sharply by reality. Last Saturday, 150,000 people were on the streets of Paris to oppose Emmanuel Macron undemocratically pushing through his so-called labour reforms by decree, which will pave the way for zero-hour contracts and a complete decline in working conditions in France. He has the lowest opinion ratings in history at this stage in his presidency. They are lower than those of Donald Trump. The movement against Macron and the rise of Mélenchon's La France Insoumise are the positive side of the crisis, the left expression of the crisis of the extreme centre in the European Union.

The other negative and frightening side was also on show last weekend in Germany with the entry into parliament of Alternative for Germany, AfD, as the third party, with 94 members of parliament and 6 million votes. It is the first party of the far right to enter the German Bundestag in over 50 years. The basis for that rise was laid in the austerity imposed - before anybody else in the European Union was talking about austerity - in the form of the Hartz IV laws introduced by a Gerhard Schröder-led SPD government and the propaganda campaign of the German establishment and large elements of the media blaming lazy Greeks for what were actually bailouts of German banks. We stand with those who are mobilising now against the scapegoating of refugees, racism and AfD.

Those events more accurately characterise the EU than the image people have of it. It is fundamentally undemocratic, as was seen in the soft coups against the Italian and Greek governments and when it acted with an imperialist character against countries internally, such as Greece, and in terms of its so-called trade partners, with economic partnership agreements in Africa. It is also racist. The fortress Europe policies have turned the Mediterranean into Trump's border wall and a graveyard for refugees.

The direction of travel is further in that direction. Emmanuel Macron made a speech a couple of hours ago in which he spoke about accelerating the rhythm and said that no country should be excluded but no country should block. That is in line with Jean-Claude Juncker's state of the Union speech in the European Parliament. They have a definite idea, post-Brexit, of going further in terms of militarisation, with the establishment of permanent military headquarters and moving towards a security and defence union, and moving further in terms of economic integration, with Emmanuel Macron referring to a strong common budget at the heart of Europe. That is the Europe people in Britain voted to leave.

The real question is not about whether it will be a hard or soft Brexit but whether it will be a right-wing or left-wing Brexit. That is not predetermined. Consider the election results for Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party. It almost won the British general election. He could win a future election, which could occur at any time.

If he is not sabotaged by the Blairites in the Labour Party who want to turn back the clock on the changes that have taken place and the struggle inside the Labour Party, he has the possibility of implementing a left-wing Brexit. What would that look like? Speaking on the "Andrew Marr Show" at the weekend, Mr. Corbyn stated:

We need to look very carefully at the terms of any trade relationship because at the moment we are part of the Single Market, obviously. That has within it restrictions on state aid and state spending. That has pressures on it, through the European Union, to privatise rail, for example, and other services. I think we need to be quite careful about the powers we need as national governments.

This statement hits the nail on the head. If we want to implement left-wing policies and, for example, build homes with the money in the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and National Asset Management Agency, we have to break the fiscal rules. If we want to nationalise industry, which will be necessary if we are to turn the economy on a different basis, we have to break the rules. If we want to invest in public services, we have to break the rules of the entire fiscal straightjacket imposed by the European Union. Such an exit, in which workers' needs are put first, would create the best possible basis for resolving the issues that present on this island. This means having no hard border and defending the right of people to free movement.

It is vital that workers feature in this discussion. We hear IBEC, ISME and all the rest clamouring for wage cuts and attacks on workers' rights to place the burden of Brexit on workers. Workers should come together across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in a conference of trade unions to discuss a response to these issues.

A key question is what will be the response in the event of a Theresa May or bargain basement Brexit. The response of the Government is to build a deeper basement and engage in a deeper race to the bottom, which goes nowhere. Instead, we need the opposite response, a socialist industrial policy based on public ownership and massive public investment. This is precisely what is ruled out by the European Union rules. It is precisely why change will not come from the EU and why we need a different, socialist Europe.

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