Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I can tell Deputy Adams that I have been going up and down to Belfast since I was a small child and I am extremely fond of Belfast. What is going to happen in Westminster in respect of the absentee Sinn Féin MPs or will Sinn Féin decide that it should utilise this resource to defend the interests of Ireland North and South?

Perhaps with the change of leadership that is coming soon, there will be a move by Sinn Féin to protect vital Northern and Southern interests in the Brexit negotiations and debate. There is a fairly strong indication that the UK Parliament will require a meaningful vote on a future Brexit deal. If the UK parliament requires a meaningful vote, which we understand is what will happen, there is a question, tricky as it is, about the presence of those who have been voted in largely by nationalists in Northern Ireland to represent them in the UK Parliament. We all know the long history of abstention but lots of long histories come to an end.

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