Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move that: "The Bill be now read a Second Time."

I wish to share time with Deputy Cullinane.

This Bill was originally introduced in February 2017. Its objective was to ensure that the Government would keep the Oireachtas regularly informed of all developments during the Brexit negotiations. That it has taken so long for this Bill to get this far is evidence of the constipated state of the legislative process in this Dáil.

Brexit is widely accepted as the most important and dangerous challenge facing the people of this island in decades. It poses a significant economic threat to the two economies on the island. It also threatens the Good Friday Agreement and the ability of citizens in the North to access the full range of rights available to them as EU citizens. Consequently, it is an imperative that the fullest information is available to the Oireachtas and to the public.

While I accept that the Brexit process has moved on since the Bill was first introduced, Sinn Féin believes that there is an onus on the Government to ensure that the maximum information is available. This can best be accomplished by a statutory requirement that there are regular and consistent debates in the Dáil on Brexit.

I acknowledge the Minister's efforts to keep the Oireachtas briefed on Brexit. This Bill will enhance this crucial process. Therefore, I regret the Minister's decision to oppose this Bill and I ask him even at this stage to reconsider his decision and to allow this to go to Committee Stage.

The politics around Brexit are constantly shifting. All of this underlines the need for constant alertness and continuous debate, discussion and accountability. The past ten days illustrate this point perfectly.

On Tuesday, 8 May, the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Boris Johnson MP, dismissed as crazy the preferred proposal of the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Theresa May, on a customs plan in which Britain would effectively collect tariffs on behalf of the EU. The Brexiteers, which include the DUP, favour what they call "maximum facilitation" which would use technology to facilitate cross-Border trade. Speaking at the weekend, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, correctly rejected this proposal.

On Monday of this week, a leading Brexiteer, Mr. Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, stated that the British Prime Minister "ought not to take Brussels too seriously about the Irish question". On Tuesday, the British Prime Minister announced that she plans to publish a White Paper before next month's EU summit. The Scottish Parliament this week voted against backing the Tory's European Union (Withdrawal) Bill.

The Minister will be aware that the London Government has consistently ignored the concerns of the various assemblies and has deliberately kept them out of the Brexit negotiations and has also ignored the vote, as has the DUP, of the people of the North on this issue. All of these significant developments, even in the past ten days, underline the need for this Bill and for frequent and regular updates from Government and for debates in the Dáil.

Yesterday, it was reported that the British Government is now considering a third option for addressing the customs dilemma. This suggests the possibility of the British state, as well as the North, remaining aligned with the EU customs union. This is not new. My colleague, an Teachta David Cullinane, identified this as a possibility after the December agreement was published.

However, none of this can be divorced from the mounting problems Mrs. May is facing in the British Parliament, particularly in the House of Lords where she has lost over a dozen votes, the civil war inside the Conservative Party and within her Cabinet.

Despite all of this, the Minister was quoted on Tuesday as stating that he is confident that the British Prime Minister will deliver on her commitment to avoid border controls by June. Today, following his meeting with Mrs. May, the Taoiseach is saying that the British will now table a new proposal on a future customs relationship within the next two weeks and that this is new thinking.

We were told that in December only to have the British Prime Minister repudiate the EU legal text in February. Remember "No UK prime Minister would ever agree to it." Sin an méid a dúirt sí. Why should this time be any different? This is the same British Prime Minister who last week claimed that only British soldiers are being investigated in relation to legacy matters. As the Minister will be aware, this is a patent untruth. Her claim was deeply hurtful to all of those families who lost loved ones as a result of the actions of British state forces.

This is the same British Government that refuses to provide information on the role of its agents in the Dublin-Monaghan bombings which took place on this date 44 years ago and this is the same British Prime Minister who has done a deal with the DUP which is taking precedence over her obligations in respect of the Good Friday Agreement.

The EU legal text accepts that the alignment option contained in the December agreement means that the North shall be "considered part of the customs territory of the EU". It confirms that the North would remain within the customs union and acknowledges the need for many of the elements that go to make up the Single Market. It explicitly states that there should be "no diminution of rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity as set out" in the Good Friday Agreement.

The EU legal text also requires the British Government to "facilitate" the work of the North's human rights commission, the equality commission and the joint committee of representatives of the human rights commissions, North and South, and it definitively demands that the Good Friday Agreement and its subsequent implementation agreements "should be protected in all its parts".

In his response to the joint agreement in December, the Taoiseach stated:

To the nationalist people in Northern Ireland, I want to assure you that we have protected your interests throughout these negotiations.

Your birth right as Irish citizens, and therefore as EU citizens, will be protected. There will be no hard border on our island. You will never again be left behind by an Irish Government.

These rights will, of course, be available to everyone in Northern Ireland who chooses to exercise his or her right to be an Irish citizen, regardless of their political persuasion or religious beliefs.

The Irish Government, therefore, carries an onerous responsibility to protect the rights of all citizens on this island, both in relation to Brexit and the future of the Good Friday Agreement. If an agreement is reached in the upcoming negotiations between the EU and the British Government, it cannot fall short of the position that the legal text has established.

Sinn Féin's proposal for the North to be designated special status within the EU is now accepted, even in a de factoway, by the EU. The onus is, as the Minister has stated, on the British Government to come forward with workable alternative solutions that meet the objectives set out in the legal text and which protect the Good Friday Agreement.

I repeat my proposition at the outset of my remarks and ask the Minister to reconsider his opposition to this Bill and to allow it to move to the Committee Stage where it can be amended, if need be.

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