David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The British Government today published its negotiating position in its White Paper, which is to be welcomed. We also welcome the commitment to there being no hard border on the island of Ireland, a commitment to the letter and spirit of the Good Friday Agreement and a commitment to a legally operable backstop for the island of Ireland. The Tánaiste will accept that we have been here before. We had a political agreement last December which was to be built upon; we have a White Paper today and more political promises have been made. We must move beyond political agreements and promises and see the legal text, legal certainty and legal clarity that is necessary to ensure there is no hardening of the Border but also to ensure that we protect citizens' rights in the North and that we protect the Agreement in all its parts. We must move beyond the sound bite and aspiration and move to real detail so that we can see exactly what it being put on the table.

It is time for the British Government to live up to its responsibility to safeguard the letter and spirit of the Agreement and avoid a hard border. The Border in Ireland is not simply about trade nor was the Good Friday Agreement a trade agreement. It was about citizens rights, identity, social and legal rights and these have protection in the European Courts, including the European Court of Justice. Even in the White Paper published today, the British Government is still intent on taking the North of Ireland out of the purview of the European Court of Justice. We have concerns, which I have raised with the Tánaiste several times, that Irish citizens who live in the North, who are also European citizens, want to be able to vindicate their rights post-Brexit but there remains huge uncertainty as to how that will happen.

I welcome the commitment to a backstop but we still do not know what that will mean. There seems to be a difference between the December agreement, which was political in nature, supported by most, if not all, Members of this House, and the Government and what the British Government is now saying. Today, Theresa May reiterated that Britain and the North will come out of the customs union and Single Market. There has been progress on some issues, but not enough.

We need certainty on these issues as we move into the October summit. It was this Government, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach, who promised the Irish people that the Irish issues would be sorted before we moved on to the phase two negotiations; that did not happen. They also promised that we would have an agreement by June and that we would see real and substantial progress as we moved towards the June summit; that did not happen. There has been some movement today but we are clear that it is unacceptable that we would stumble into the October Council meeting without any legal guarantees or text on the Irish issues. They must be dealt with and if that means a summit in September, so be it, because this is our insurance policy.

The future arrangements including the future trading relationship between Britain and the EU is of interest to the people of Ireland. We want the closest possible relationship. I would prefer if Britain remained as close as possible to the Single market and the customs union. In the event that does not happen, we need that backstop, and that insurance policy, and to see it well in advance of October so that Irish people and businesses have the certainty they need.

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