Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am often reminded - as, I am sure, are many other Irish people - of Joe Dolan's song "Make Me An Island", with its lyrics:

Shut me off, cut me off, make me an island, I'm yours

Take me away from the world, take me away from the girls."

Another line says, "But I'm tired, uninspired and I've wiped my slate clean." Theresa May may have wiped the slate clean with regard to paying the bill but I would prefer to think that it is fairy-tale economics. The story starts with "Once upon a time." Mrs. May sold this fairy-tale vision of a post-Brexit Britain to her subjects - a Britain that was going to be fully in charge of its own destiny, a Britain that would not have to listen to any authority other than its own and a Britain that would not have to abide by any of the rules coming at it from the EU. However, unlike most fairy tales, this story does not come with a happy-ever-after ending.

The caption in a recent cartoon in an British newspaper read "The Customs Union and the Single Market is not dead - the British are hoping it’s asleep." With 309 days to go, the authority of the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, will come under scrutiny next month when the Brexit legislation comes back before Parliament in advance of the EU summit. Her position may be untenable if she cannot control the opposing views within her own party.

She needs to be very clear on the customs issue before the summit at the end of June. The days of indecision and vague declarations are over and for the Tánaiste the buck stops at the backstop and we need to hold fast on that being contextualised legally.

The British Parliament will now have to decide which of the amendments coming from the House of Lords will stay and which will go. Anti-Brexit peers voted for the UK to stay in the Single Market and in the customs union. They removed the exit date of 29 March 2019. The EU must be in agreement with this legislation also. It wants clarity on the exit date and cannot let Britain dictate the terms.

The Timesin England has reported that the UK will ask Brussels for a second transition period that would cover trade, customs and industrial goods and last until 2023, to prevent a hard border in Ireland. This may suit the British Prime Minister as she pushes the hard decisions further out.

The EU, including Ireland, is fed up with vagueness where no hard decisions are made, as am I. The EU has made it clear it is all or nothing. We want to see progress on the important issues at the June summit. Fianna Fáil sees all of this fudge by the British as an attempt to push out the difficult decisions that need to be faced. We will not accept the Irish proverb "Mair, a chapaill, agus gheobhaidh tú féar" or live horse, and you will eat grass, while Britain still insists on having that proverbial cake and eating it.

I am happy that the EU is demanding progress on the Irish issue. We are all still anxiously awaiting the UK’s proposals. On this issue, it is clear to me that the British are making preparations for a hard border. Recently the sale of a former police station near the Irish Border at Warrenpoint has been halted because of Brexit. This would serve a useful customs purpose in the Port of Warrenpoint.

I fully agree with Dr. Katy Hayward from Queen’s University Belfast that any plans to introduce customs technology on the currently invisible border between North and South would be dangerous on all sorts of terms. It would represent the reopening of a gaping wound. The negative effects of Brexit are already evident in the North, with the creation of a new divide. The peace process is very fragile. Twenty years on from the Good Friday Agreement, the persistence of sectarianism is still very visible. This fairy tale gets worse.

See this speech in context