Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The European Council at its meeting scheduled for next Thursday will decide whether sufficient progress has been achieved in the Brexit talks to allow movement to the next phase. I hope the Tánaiste and I agree that this cannot and will not happen unless the matters of concern to Ireland, North and South, are addressed and solutions agreed that defend the national interest. I hope we agree that any agreement must ensure the North will remain within the customs union and the Single Market and that the legal and political infrastructure of the Good Friday Agreement will be hardwired into any deal. It also means that we must have certainty on the issues of citizens' rights and access to the European Court of Justice and other European institutions for citizens living in the North. Anything short of this will guarantee a Brexit border between the North and the South and the ensuing economic and political chaos.

According to the Taoiseach on Monday, there was an agreement between the British Government and the European union but the DUP then pulled the rug from under the Tories' feet and it all collapsed. In the midst of this, there was a great deal of talk about but little meaning in there being no regulatory divergence and continued regulatory alignment. Despite this lack of clarity and not having seen the text, we gave the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach our qualified support on the basis that they would seek and achieve an agreement that would defend the national interest in the way I have outlined.

When the agreement collapsed, the Taoiseach stated he would not accept anything other than the deal he believed he had had on Monday. He was holding firm. Today, however, we hear new and worrying language from the Government. We hear that it will consider any new text from the Tory Government in London. We also hear about a fudge on the Government's much vaunted regulatory alignment. The British Prime Minister continues to play a game of make-believe that the North can be forced out of the customs union and the Single Market and that a hard border can be avoided. The Irish Government cannot be sucked into this delusion. If the Tories want to sail off into the sunset from the European Union, that is their business, but what happens in the North of Ireland is our business and that of the Government. The Government has a strong hand to play and democracy firmly on its side, given that the people of the North have not consented to leaving the Single Market or the customs union. They voted to remain and it falls to the Government to defend that vote. It should be sure we will stand shoulder to shoulder with it, if it does so. As it cannot afford a fudge, it needs to make the right call. As the Tánaiste stated, there is no room for creative ambiguity. Will he state clearly and with certainty that the Government will not agree to any deal that would drag the North from the customs union and the Single Market?

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