David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach and the leader of Fianna Fáil will know, Sinn Féin has given the Irish Government and the European negotiators a qualified support on Brexit. We do so not because we support the Government or the European negotiators, but because we support what we see as an Irish approach and an Irish solution to Brexit. Every single political party on the island of Ireland should be behind a special solution for the North, which involves keeping the North in the customs union and Single Market, protecting the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and ensuring the rights of citizens are also protected. That should be the position of everybody on the island and we certainly want that as the final outcome.

While we give the Government qualified support, we are also concerned about responses to many of the agreements which have been reached by the British Government. The Taoiseach would surely have to agree that there are contradictions between what was agreed last December and what was in the most recent joint report, as well as the actual statements from the British Prime Minister and others in Britain in respect of all of these issues. We were told last December that what we had was a cast-iron, bulletproof guarantee, yet we are still involved in negotiations. This morning, I challenged the Tánaiste on the backstop arrangement and the fact that the British Government has dismissed out of hand the legal text that has been put forward by the European Commission. The Tánaiste said I had to understand that we are still involved in a negotiation. Why are we involved in negotiations on a cast-iron guarantee? Our difficulty is that while we have a political agreement in principle, in practical terms the British Government has not signed up to any legal text which would give expression to that political agreement. The Taoiseach would surely understand that this will cause concern to people in Ireland. As Teachta McDonald said, we cannot sit around waiting for months more to see the colour of the money from the British Government. We have to see the legal text to which they will agree.

The most recent joint agreement between Britain and the European Union was colour coded in yellow, green and white. There were some elements in yellow, which we were told meant agreement in principle. There were very few Irish issues in green, meaning there was agreement, and they were on the common travel area and a few other issues. On the crucial issue of trade there was no agreement whatsoever. On the crucial issue of the Border there was no agreement whatsoever. It is still outstanding. That is the issue.

Let us be very clear that the backstop agreement does not mean the North of Ireland staying in the customs union and Single Market. We all hope there will be an agreement between Britain and the European Union on trade and a customs type partnership that will make it a lot easier. Let us hope we do get to that position. If we do not and the backstop agreement is the baseline and is implemented, all we are doing is aligning the North and the South in terms of trade in areas to do with North-South co-operation and the Good Friday Agreement.

It does not cover all services or all goods. How those goods and services are to be monitored and checked must be outlined. That will have to be done via checks, either at the Border or at the premises of companies or factories, which will put the responsibility back on businesses. These are real questions and real concerns that people living on either side of the Border have. There is a responsibility on the Government to ensure that we move away from the rhetoric, the words, the fine promises and the political agreements and towards a legal agreement we can all see which will protect the Good Friday Agreement, the interests of Ireland and the rights of citizens and will protect against any hardening of the Border.

It is often said by Brexit commentators that they do not wish to see a hard border in Ireland. We do not want to see any hardening of the Border in Ireland at all. That should be the position of the Government. It should not merely seek to avoid a hard border. No hardening of the Border can be accepted by any Irish Government, and that must be the Government's position as the negotiations continue.

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