Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Long before the Brexit referendum, it was clear that Brexit presented a mortal threat to the soft Border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and the peace process that had been built up by so many people over many decades. The Labour Party has consistently supported the position adopted by the Government on the commitment required by the people of this island from the British Government to ensure Brexit does the minimum possible damage to the hard won political and economic stability on this island. We do so in full recognition of the rejection of Brexit by the people of Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, as we are all well aware, the consequences of Brexit on the Border were not central to the Brexit debate in the United Kingdom, that is, until now.

Yesterday, we were on the verge of a significant breakthrough. Months of extensive work, lobbying and networking - I, too, pay tribute to our officials - with our colleagues in Europe had reached a critical point. Patient efforts to build a consensus on the Irish issues, to get people who did not really understand them to be fully appraised of them, to unite the 26 countries of the EU behind the Irish position and to find a practical solution acceptable to the UK had, we believed, borne fruit.

The final agreement came down to a debate on the difference between no regulatory divergence versus ongoing regulatory alignment. I said to the Taoiseach last week that what we needed was Ireland to act collectively in regard to this. Little did I know that it was the UK that would fail to act collectively. Despite the position of the DUP being that it officially opposes a hard border, it has offered no solutions to achieve that objective. What it is prepared to do is to say, "No". What has shocked me and many others from the middle of yesterday is the failure of the British Government and Prime Minister May to ensure that the constituent parts of her own Government and the United Kingdom were on board with what was being agreed. I spoke to my colleagues in the British Labour Party yesterday evening. They were also at a loss as to how such a defeat could be snatched from the jaws of victory. The Brexit demons that have plagued political discourse in the UK have been unfortunately unleashed again.

The solution to this problem is obvious and involves the UK as a whole accepting the need to remain within the Single Market and the customs union, a position, as others have instanced, that has now been accepted by, among others, Wales, Scotland and London. While this morning the leader of the Conservative Party in Scotland has called for ongoing regulatory alignment for the entire UK, exiting the Single Market and the customs union was not determined by the British referendum. There was a political decision made by the British Government to do that, and the outstanding question now is what the British Government will be able to agree to.

I have a number of questions. Our relationship with the UK had reached a peak of strength in recent years. I believe it has been significantly damaged in very recent times. Having formally agreed a position that collapsed over lunch yesterday, how can we as a country now negotiate with the United Kingdom in good faith and how stands the credibility of the negotiating forum when carefully negotiated words can be unpicked after the fact?

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