Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to direct my comments to the Northern Ireland Border. The UK Government has repeatedly stated its commitment to ensuring no Border controls, which is welcome. It signed up to an agreement in December which committed to no Border controls, which is also welcome but I put it to the Tánaiste that this agreement is being unpicked.

The agreement contains three layers of protection. First, that the UK will remain aligned to the EU but the UK Government has clearly stated that this is not going to happen. The second layer of protection is that the UK Government proposes specific solutions to address the unique circumstances of the island of Ireland. This relies on technological solutions that do not exist anywhere in the world, confirmed by the ex-head of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, and obviously nothing has been forthcoming from the British Government on this. The third layer of protection - the backstop - which is probably the only real layer of protection is that in the absence of agreed solutions, the UK will maintain full alignment with the rules of the Internal Market and the customs union which, now or in the future, support North-South co-operation, an all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement. At least some senior members of the British Government believe this commitment to be more limited than the EU or the Irish Government believe it to be. They talk of minimal controls. Worryingly, the US-Canada border is being referenced with regularity, including by the British Prime Minister yesterday in the House of Commons. They are talking up and normalising border controls.

The EU guidelines put the backstop first. They say that at the end of the transition period, if the British are not aligned to the EU, which we do not expect them to be, or they insist they will not be, and if the British have not come forward with a technological solution, which we do not expect them to do although obviously we are very open to that conversation, the legal reality on the ground for the people of Northern Ireland and the geography of Northern Ireland would be a legal tie-in to the Single Market and the customs union. It is very important that this is the reality the day after the transition period ends. Worryingly, Prime Minister May dismissed this out of hand. Having signed up to the December agreement she dismissed out of hand the legal reality, stating that it would be a threat to the UK constitution. There is expert advice which states that that is not the case.

Fianna Fáil has been, and will continue to be, very critical of the Government's domestic response on Brexit.

On the international front we will continue to support the Minister but we are seriously concerned that this agreement and the protections being bulletproof, rock solid and cast-iron were over sold. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for his indulgence and will finish with a point for Sinn Féin.

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