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

It is clear to me that the elephant in the room in terms of Northern Ireland and Brexit is the absence of an Executive and an Assembly. There is a lot of hype and rhetoric about regulatory alignment with regard to the customs union, being part of the Single Market and all of that. However, it is extraordinary, given the grave threat that Brexit represents to the island, particularly to Northern Ireland's economy, and notwithstanding all of the huge difficulties we had in the past that we were able to surmount, in terms of the establishment of the Executive and the Assembly, that we cannot do the same now and that the parties concerned do not see the urgency and necessity for this. Given everything that Brexit represents, the parties concerned need to come together without conditions at this stage to re-establish the Executive and the Assembly and at least have a legal parliamentary and governmental framework to shape Brexit for Northern Ireland. Opinion polls will not shape Northern Ireland's fate in the context of Brexit but an Assembly and an Executive could have a far more effective capacity and influence in shaping Brexit. Look at what the Scottish Parliament has done in terms of voting against the wishes of the British Government and nailing its colours to the mast as to what it wants. There are regular meetings of the Brexit Ministers in Scotland and Wales with the Brexit Secretary but there is a complete absence of this in Northern Ireland.

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