Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Jackie Cahill and Robert Troy.

The clock is ticking. There are 185 days to go. I am tinged with a certain sadness at the prospect of any reintroduction of a Border, either hard or soft, when it has, for all intents and purposes, been removed. That tinge of sadness also creates a certain madness at the futility of two islands on the periphery of Europe harming each others economies and people. I have said in this House on a number of occasions that I am old enough to have seen how my county and the Border region fared before the EU. I am also old enough to have seen the benefits of joining the European Union both north and south of the Border. I am old enough to remember when we did have some peace before 1969 and the benefits that accrued from the Good Friday Agreement.

I am also involved long enough in cross-Border and east-west participation as a public representative in this House to see the futility of putting those relationships that have been created, North-South and east-west, in jeopardy. I come from the smallest county in Ireland but it has had the greatest impact on issues of division and divisiveness. Three members of An Garda Síochána were assassinated in more recent times as part of that division and divisiveness. We all know that any vacuum creates a volatility and uncertainty in the Border region in trade and commerce and in our communities. Although some people describe it as scare-mongering we should be under no illusions. There is a possibility of a return to the bad old days. The extreme paramilitaries are watching closely and hoping for Brexit.

I have had discussions with senior members of An Garda Síochána, as has the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan. The Garda's intelligence shows that it is unprepared. It does not have the ability to man what I would describe as a sieve in the Border region.

The December agreement promised to ensure there would be no hard border, including any infrastructure or related checks and controls and, most importantly, to uphold the Belfast Agreement in all its parts. That agreement went on to outline the backstop arrangements that would allow full alignment between north and south in the future. The news has emerged in the past week that the EU is preparing to accept a frictionless Irish Border using technological solutions. That is alarming. That is maximum facilitation, max fac, and has already been rejected by the Government. A lot of businesses do not seem keen on this option because of the higher costs. Deputy Chambers alluded to the Irish Road Haulage Association which clearly described that a one-hour delay in the movement of a truck equates to a cost of €15 per tonne on that truck.

The Government needs to act now and come down hard on any change to December's agreement. While Michel Barnier has never wavered in his position of insisting on a backstop, the practicalities of any proposed technological solution need to be ironed out so that Border checks will be avoided. The Minister of State lives close enough to that Border and is all too aware of the issues. Let us not cod the people because, while they are fed up listening to the word Brexit, if it happens in the form that Teresa May wants, this country and the UK are in for a rude awakening.

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