Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Political activism is mainly a hard grind. Progress is usually frustratingly slow and barriers to development often seem insurmountable. However, on rare occasions big objectives coincide with major opportunities. When that happens, it is very important to have the skills to identify that and the doggedness to pursue those objectives. Brexit is an unmitigated disaster. It will affect every part of Ireland. I believe it will affect Ireland more than any other European country, including Britain. Obviously, it will push a coach and six through the Good Friday Agreement.

How we might mitigate the Brexit disaster will determine the economy and the politics of the island for a generation. Top of the list of threats to us is a border between North and South. Trade, travel, tourism and the lives of ordinary people will be significantly threatened.

There is a solution, however, one which provides for the free flow of people and goods, namely, special designated status. For a few months, Sinn Féin was alone in pushing for this solution. However, we succeeded in having a motion in favour of special designated status passed in the Dáil with the support of the majority of Deputies. My party's MPs have also been working long and hard on this issue in Britain. Just this week, they managed to persuade the British Labour Party, in the form of Owen Smith, the shadow Secretary of State for the North of Ireland, to state the North should stay in the European Union. That the shadow Secretary of State and Sinn Féin are on the same ground on this issue is an important development.

The European Union wants to punish Britain for the Brexit vote to ensure no other member state dares consider exiting the EU. Strangely enough, this desire to punish Britain presents the State with an opportunity. Guy Verhofstadt indicated he would support a solution that is virtually identical to that which Sinn Féin has put on the table. It is shocking that the European Union is taking a more ambitious approach to the Brexit process than the Fine Gael-Independent Government. The EU is at the leading edge on this issue, whereas the Government is, unfortunately, a reluctant laggard.

For the first time since the foundation of the Northern state, unionists have lost their majority position in the North. This is one of the most important developments in the North in my generation as it materially changes the moral right of unionists to dictate to the rest of Ireland what happens to the island of Ireland. Of course, we should listen to unionists and pay strong heed to their desires for the future. However, people in the North voted to remain in the European Union and unionism is in a minority position. Even by the rules imposed on the peace process by the British, unionists do not meet the criteria that would allow them to exercise a veto over the rest of us on this issue.

The democratic will of the Dáil is in favour of designated status for the North. The main opposition party in Britain is also in favour of designated status, as are the European Union and the majority of voters in the North. We have, therefore, an alignment of core interests and stakeholders in this process. If this is not a once in a generation opportunity to fix much of the collateral damage done to this island and much of the damage that Brexit threatens to do to Ireland, I do not know what is.

There are, however, challenges. We have a clueless and disinterested Tory Government in London and a Government here that is weak, feeble and reluctant. While we do not have any control over the British Government, we must try our damnedest to get the Government on side. I ask the Minister of State to take from this debate the message that the Government must recognise and doggedly pursue the opportunity Brexit presents. It must come on board with the voters of the North, the democratic will of this Chamber, the European Union and most of the British electorate.

To reiterate a point that was well made by Deputy Broughan, the biggest threat to the European Union is not the United Kingdom Independence Party or the Alternative für Deutschland but EU federalists. What struck me after Britain's vote to exit the European Union was the complete absence of some badly needed navel gazing. There was no understanding in the EU establishment that it needed to analyse the reasons the citizens of Europe were turning their backs on their focus on a federalist Europe. Unless such an analysis takes place, the EU will experience major trouble in the period ahead.

The President of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has raised the issues of consolidated corporation taxes and a European army immediately after a major country decided to leave the Union. The federalists are people deaf. The European Union needs to decentralise by devolving powers from the centre back to the people of Europe. They will not hear this message from yes-men or in an echo chamber. They will only hear it if we have a Government that is willing to stand up to the EU federalists and tell them what needs to happen. I ask the Minister of State to take that message back to the Government and European Union.

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