Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tomorrow there will be statements on Europe and we can go into the issue in more detail then. However, as the Council President, Donald Tusk, noted, the first phase was the easy part and those who say the key issues are definitely settled are clearly fooling themselves as there is much work to be done in phase 2.

Does a definition of "frictionless border" exist? Will the Taoiseach indicate what exactly his definition of a frictionless border is? Obviously, it involves no physical barriers. Will it, however, involve no payments or costs of trade? We know the objective is for there to be no change. However, if there is change, how much it fits with the Taoiseach's understanding of what is possible? The UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, and others have spoken about a Canada-plus type of trade agreement. Where do services stand in all of this? Merchandise goods are straightforward enough. What is the outlook for services, as well as for different standards and approaches?

The Taoiseach must acknowledge there are profoundly different views on what the agreement involves, its status and its implications between Dublin and Westminster. The commitment to an open border is contradicted by the statement that the UK as a whole will leave the customs union and the Single Market. On Ireland, the agreement states that regulatory alignment will be maintained if there is no overall deal. If there is no overall deal, however, the UK's membership of both the customs union and the Single Market would automatically lapse, which will include Northern Ireland.

While I accept it is as far as we possibly could get at this particular stage, there are still irreconcilables in the text. Has the Taoiseach received assurances from Europe as to what happens in such circumstances? I hope such circumstances do not happen but I believe part of the evidence suggests Britain is heading towards a soft Brexit if it can bring its politics around to that. That is in the best interests of the British people and Britain itself.

Northern Ireland will also be a topic for statements tomorrow and there is much more to be said. However, I want to point to statements made by the Taoiseach last Friday and again in the Belfast Telegraphthat his Government has decided that no Irish Government will ever again leave Northern nationalists and Northern Ireland behind. I regard that as an offensive comment on many levels. It suggests the Taoiseach is more eager to promote his Government than respect the consensus that has operated among democratic parties here for 40 years. I do not believe anyone can look at the enormous effort and political commitment placed by Irish Governments of different parties into Northern Ireland, from the Anglo-Irish Agreement right through to the Good Friday Agreement, and say that they were leaving anybody behind. At such a moment, it was an offensive comment to make and I ask the Taoiseach to withdraw it. The Good Friday Agreement and a decade of hard negotiations after it never saw an Irish Government leave Northern nationalists or unionists behind because of parity of esteem. That is the whole basis on which citizenship emerged in terms of Irish citizenship and European citizenship.

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