Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

One week ago Mrs. Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, arrived in Salzburg with a hardline message for her European Union counterparts. She was sent home with an equally hardline message from the other 27 leaders. Agreement on the terms of a Brexit now seem as far away as ever. Understandably, many in Ireland are fearful of the consequences of Brexit, the possibility of a hard border and the rise of sectarian tensions that may result. They are fearful that the burden of a Tory Brexit may be placed on the shoulders of working people in the form of job losses, wage cuts, etc.

To understand the meaning of recent events, it is necessary to restate certain truths. The EU is an institution designed to smooth co-operation between Europe's various capitalist and corporate elite in the interests of those elite. It has introduced a series of fiscal rules that write neoliberal policies into law, promote widespread privatisation and engineer a race to the bottom in terms of worker rights and conditions. For example, these rules seriously restrict the ability of the State to address an unprecedented housing crisis without breaking those rules.

The cheerleaders for the European Union, including many in this Chamber, trumpet the supposed benefits of the EU but the impoverished pensioners of Greece know the reality. The railway workers of Britain who have resisted EU-mandated attacks on their terms and conditions and have been to the fore in making a left case for Brexit know this. The Brexit negotiations represent a clash of interests between the rival capitalist elite. There is nobody at the negotiations representing the interests of ordinary working people. That includes the representatives of the Irish Government, including Fine Gael Ministers who have helped rigged the economy against working people and taken no effective action against the housing crisis. Nevertheless, they pose as the people's champions on the international stage.

The organised working class movement must take an independent stance on Brexit. First and foremost, the trade unions must firmly resolve that working people will not be made the whipping boys and girls. There must be strong resistance organised to any threat of redundancies or pay cuts. The working class movement must stand for a completely different type of Europe, a socialist Europe that serves the needs of the many rather than the greed of the few. Precisely because we fight for the rights of all working people, we oppose any hardening of the Border between North and South and the introduction of any infrastructure that impedes freedom of movement. We also oppose any restrictions being brought in between the North and Britain. Both Catholic and Protestant working class people in the North are at one with ordinary people in this State in opposing any hardening of the border and we stand with them.

In 2017, Mr. Jeremy Corbyn won major support at the polls for left policies, including the ending of tuition fees, the building of 500,000 council homes and the nationalisation of energy, rail and mail, as well as the creation of a state investment bank. Not a single one of these policies could be implemented within the framework of a Single Market or capitalism. There is now a real possibility of Mrs. May's Government collapsing and a general election in the UK this autumn. The Socialist Party and Solidarity would welcome this and the return of a Corbyn-led Labour Government.

If Mr. Corbyn forms a Government in the coming months and implements his programme, it would echo right across Europe. It would raise the sights of people that instead of a choice between an anti-democratic, austerity driven EU and a bargain basement Tory exit, a struggle for a socialist Europe could be posed. It could give an impetus to the building of new parties of the working class across Europe as well as the need for working people across Europe to stand together and take joint action against the attacks of big business and its representatives.

It could pose the election of left, socialist governments as part of a struggle for a new, socialist Europe, with working people united in opposition to the big business elites that play with our futures.

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