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

Is maith an rud é go bhfuilimid ag caint faoin Eoraip inniu agus is léir go raibh an-chuid nithe faoi chaibidil ag an gcomhairle an tseachtain seo chaite. Ní féidir liom caint faoi gach aon cheann. Beidh mise ag díriú ar trí cinn de na ábhair is tábhachtaí a bhí faoi chaibidil ag an gcomhairle.

I want to use the limited time available to address the three core issues of the Brexit withdrawal treaty, Russia and the economic reform agenda. With exactly a year to go until we reach Brexit day, there has been a significant edging towards some clarity on how the UK will exit and the likely long-term relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. An enormous amount of time has been wasted waiting for the United Kingdom to accept that it is in no position to dictate the terms of a departure for which it alone is responsible.

Overall, Michel Barnier and his team have remained true to the basic principles that the European Union's legal order will not be compromised and that access to the benefits of the Single Market and customs union comes with full financial and legal responsibilities. Equally, they have been correct in insisting that the transitionary period must come to an end before the next multiannual financial framework becomes operative. If the United Kingdom discovers at some point soon that it will not be ready, even at the end of 2020, then Norway terms should be available, though it is difficult to see how this can possibly be reconciled with the positions of both the Tory party and, unfortunately, the UK Labour party leadership.

We welcome the large amount of text in the draft treaty which is coloured green and is, as such, agreed. We emphatically do not welcome the failure to progress any substantive matter concerning Ireland to a stage beyond the general and, in parts, contradictory agreements of last December. Even the most basic look at the record shows that our Government has, for the past year, been briefing that its core strategy has been to ensure that Ireland is not caught up in final stage negotiations where the pressure for compromises will be greatest. When the negotiating guidelines were first announced we were told that Ireland must be decided before other items were decided. This will not now be the case and the Taoiseach has refused to even acknowledge the change of strategy, let alone justify it. Let no one be in any doubt - no backstop has been agreed. The European Union has prepared a text which the United Kingdom has said is unacceptable, including this week in the House of Commons. They have agreed the principle of there being some sort of backstop if there is no agreement on a final status but they have repeatedly said, including in the letter from the Prime Minister, Theresa May, referred to by the Taoiseach, that they will not agree a measure that makes Northern Ireland subject to a different legal and customs regime. This is no small difference and the Taoiseach's decision to have it long-fingered to a later stage in the process is, potentially, a huge error.

It is an unfortunate reality that the Taoiseach's approach to this issue means whenever a legitimate challenge is made his first reaction is to go on the political attack. He arrived back from Berlin last week and informed the Dáil that he did not believe anyone was fit to replace him - an incredible statement from someone in the job for less than a year. Instead of explaining why his agreement to proceed without progressing the Irish text was consistent with past policy, the Taoiseach chose to launch an absurd attack on Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly and Fianna Fáil. He could have risen to the occasion and argued in good faith but he did not. Instead, we got the recitation of a ridiculous Sinn Féin attack and a false claim that we are inconsistent. That he would align himself with Ireland's most consistently anti-European Union party for the sake of making a political attack on this matter reveals a lot.

The Tánaiste said that, if we do not have this done by June, we will have to raise some serious questions as to whether it is possible to finalise a withdrawal at all. How does this reconcile with the Taoiseach's casual acceptance of waiting until October? I know the Taoiseach has had difficulty in the past week or so with statements from the Tánaiste but this one needs to be squared. It is regrettable that parts of the media appear to be wholly reliant on the Government's briefings and narrative in covering Brexit and, therefore, have not examined a significant change in Government strategy. In comparison, the international coverage has emphasised how little progress has been made on Ireland, how an agreed backstop is further away than ever and how other countries were now pushing their own national agendas for October. We remain absolutely of the belief that it is an error to pretend that Ireland can be addressed through the overall UK-EU relationship. A form of special status which respects the constitution and settlement agreed by the people in 1998 remains the only viable route, something which has been made more difficult by the megaphone diplomacy of the past six months which has raised entirely unreasonable fears.

It appears now that the Government will declare whatever emerges from the overall negotiations as a great success and will hail itself for accepting the technologically managed Border suggested by the United Kingdom, for which there is no international model. If the Taoiseach and Tánaiste wish to have the support of the pro-European Union majority in this House during the remainder of the negotiations, it would be well advised to consult more and step back from its attacks when others disagree with it on how to get the best outcome for Ireland and the European Union as a whole.

As we stated last night, Fianna Fáil supports the Council's decision to condemn Russian aggression and the actions which have followed. It is unfortunate that the Government appears to have made no preparations in advance of last Friday and that it took no steps to brief the constructive parts of the Opposition about serious Irish-related security issues. We have been raising Russian aggression during these sessions for the past four years and pointing out how the direct threat to Europe and the wider world was escalating all the time. Let us put aside the nonsense that Russia's denials should be taken seriously. We heard the same aggressive denials when it invaded and partitioned Ukraine, when it shot down a Dutch passenger plane, when it blocked any international action after the grotesque repressions and slaughter of the Assad regime, when it supplied funding to extremist anti-democratic and racist parties in Austria, France, Hungary and other countries, when it interfered in referendums in Britain and the Netherlands and elections in the Netherlands, France and elsewhere, when it launched the largest ever cyber attacks on European Union states and the Baltic states, and when it systematically undermined any real actions on human rights by the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the OSCE. Does anyone here forget that the very people today denying responsibility for Salisbury denied they had troops in the Crimea? Subsequently, the Russian state not only admitted it had lied, it issued medals to the troops and erected a statue to them.

Last night, we heard the nonsense argument that we are somehow following a Cold War mentality or losing our neutrality by saying that enough is enough. Russia must know that the democratic world will not just roll over and let it be undermined and we believe Ireland must stand with the democratic world. It never ceases to amaze me how people and parties who spend their time lecturing us about rights are nearly always silent on Russia and are even apologists for Russia. With the exception of Deputy Boyd Barrett, whose commitment to the Kurdish cause means he regularly and quite correctly attacks the behaviour of Russia in that region, others go through incredible contortions to blame anyone but Russia. The displays of whataboutery are frankly pathetic. Our self-declared crusaders on neutrality were even silent when Russia sent nuclear armed bombers to Irish-controlled airspace with their transponders turned off - thereby endangering civilian aviation.

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