Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is only a suggestion, just like the Taoiseach talks to colleagues. I believe, however, that there is strong solidarity across all parties and countries. It is important that we make it clear, as the deadline approaches, that we will not be pushed into a situation where the Border will be the pivotal issue, on which ground will be given. That is my only concern. I believe the Taoiseach will be strong on the issue and take him at his word, but it is vitally important that everybody understand these matters are of such fundamental importance to us that no ground can be given on thlem. Our position from the outset has been that if the United Kingdom is sincerely committed to the Good Friday Agreement, as it states it is, it must go the extra mile to preserve its benefits, including having an open border on the island of Ireland. Even in the hardest of Brexits, the United Kingdom would still have a formal commitment to uphold the Good Friday Agreement and preserve the open border. Instead, we are being told that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed." The Border has become a central issue in negotiating the UK-EU withdrawal agreement, rather than it being about the British Government fulfilling the promise it made freely to the people of Northern Ireland to uphold the Good Friday Agreement.

The lack of a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is probably the single most tangible social and economic change people see as the real gain from the Good Friday Agreement. It drives greater economic prosperity and is the foundation of the maintenance of peace. It allows the complete expression of people's nationality. The 20 years since the signing of the agreement have seen many roads opened and many bridges rebuilt, increasing people's ability to move seamlessly between the two jurisdictions. People can access shops and services on both sides of the Border. Business supply chains have been re-established. The fear of a hard border is not primarily one of returning to violence, although a minority would target cameras or other Border infrastructure. Instead, it is about finding an alternative to the common set of European laws that underpins and permits the seamless interaction of people and businesses in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Any Border check would be a backwards step. In particular, it would alienate the nationalist minority in Northern Ireland which is the majority community in Border regions. When we talk about avoiding a border on the island of Ireland, we are really talking about maintaining the free social and economic interaction of people on the island of Ireland.

Mrs. Theresa May acknowledged only yesterday that the United Kingdom and the European Union shared a " profound responsibility to ensure the preservation of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, protecting the hard won peace and stability in Northern Ireland and ensuring that life continues essentially as it does now." She agreed that the future economic partnership "should provide for solutions to the unique circumstances in Northern Ireland in the long term." She acknowledged that there could be a gap in time between the United Kingdom's withdrawal and the establishment of a settled future relationship. We can, in this House, recognise that the United Kingdom's problems on the Border can be fully resolved by a combination of the withdrawal agreement and the future relationship. We have, with good reason, sought a backstop to be part of the exit agreement, just in case the future relationship negotiated between the European Union and the United Kingdom ends up being relatively distant, like that of Canada in trading under World Trade Organization, WTO, rules. In the absence of a backstop agreement, such a trading relationship would involve a controlled border between the United Kingdom and the European Union which would simply be unacceptable if it was on the island of Ireland. The very existence of a backstop agreement and the United Kingdom's commitment to preserving stability and continuity in Northern Ireland narrow the scope of the kind of future relationship that is actually possible. If the United Kingdom keeps faith with the Good Friday Agreement, trading on WTO or Canadian terms would essentially be impossible, unless one set of rules to applied to Britain and a different set applied to Northern Ireland. That would permit a wider variety of final outcomes in terms of the future relationship, but the Democratic Unionist Party has ruled this out.

The influence of the DUP is an important consideration. A number of prominent DUP politicians, including their leader, Ms Arlene Foster, have proclaimed that a no-deal Brexit is the most likely result. More fundamentally, they have made it clear that their support at Westminster for the May Government is contingent on the negotiation of a deal that is to their liking.

Their resistance to relatively mundane checks on goods from Britain across the Irish Sea has narrowed the scope of possible solutions and there is a risk that they will block any deal, despite the economic consequences for Northern Ireland, in order to advance that overriding political objective. We have now reached the high-stakes moment in the negotiations. The issue now is quite simply who carries the political risk. Ireland's interests mean there must be a backstop in place. That has been the settled view of this House for a year. That means putting last year's deal in written legal text. If we in Ireland permit the Irish Border backstop agreement to be fudged in any way, such as a postponement, then we take the risk that there would be a gap in time before the UK-EU trading arrangements are agreed, and that could be a permanent gap. In either case, temporary or permanent, for whatever time, it is completely unacceptable to us that there would be a hard border.

One could ask how big is the risk. Theresa May appears to want a future relationship that keeps the UK close to the customs union and the Single Market. That is her stated position. If that is the result, the Irish Border issue will disappear. However, we cannot even say that her objective is shared by her Cabinet. It is unlikely that there is a majority in the British Parliament to back such a deal, unless it passes the six tests set out by the British Labour Party. There are those in British Parliament who would be very willing to sacrifice the Good Friday Agreement if it was the only roadblock in the way of their future aspirations, namely, to exit the EU. The bottom line is that it is not enough for the Government to wait and see. Neither is it enough for the Government to express confidence in the EU negotiation team. That is very important. I have that confidence too, but we need a rock solid guarantee that the Irish Border will remain open, and that the matter will be settled. Unfortunately, it should have been settled some time ago. We must not compromise, and I do not believe we will, on the determination that is shared across this entire House to maintain an open border on this island in any agreement that emerges.

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