Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

It is very clear that this summit is extremely unlikely to result in any outcome on Brexit. Instead, in recent days there has been a ratcheting up of rhetoric about the potential for no deal, playing on the very real fears of ordinary people in Ireland, Britain and across Europe. The problem in all of this is, as it has been from the start, is that these are negotiations between vested capitalist interests on both sides. On the one hand there is the right wing Tory Government in Britain and on the other hand the European Union, which we must restate is far from the progressive democratic social project it sometimes finds it useful to portray itself as, and instead is a neoliberal capitalist club, with such policies as Fortress Europe among others, whose rules would have to be broken by any progressive left government with a socialist programme which sought, for example, to deal with the housing crisis in this State, or to invest in public services or to implement even the relatively modest proposals in Corbyn's manifesto at the most recent election.

Because of that reality, none of the potential agreements that is currently considered as an option offers a real solution to the fears and concerns of ordinary people. They are based on the continuation of the neoliberal rules that are at the heart of the European Union. It does not have to be that way. Theresa May's Government could collapse in the coming weeks or months, partly under the impact of those developments and Corbyn and the Labour Party would be presented with an opportunity of coming to power. If Corbyn, instead of seeking compromise with the Blairites who continue to conspire against him, implemented socialist policies and based his approach on the need for those policies not only in Britain but across Europe that would open the door to a very different negotiation process and exit and would echo right across Europe and would present options for a joint struggle across Europe against a bargain-basement Tory exit, and the struggle for an alternative socialist Europe.

If Brexit is carried through on the basis of Tory rule, we know that it will have a negative impact. Last week's statement from the Central Bank contained an analysis of a Chequers-style agreement. The Central Bank concluded that the proposal would have a major negative impact on the Irish economy and referred to up to 20,000 job losses. We know that there is a similar analysis for the North and that a negative scenario has been painted, with 10,000 job losses. A similar analysis for Britain refers to up to 200,000 job losses. It is obvious that a Brexit of that sort would serve as the starting gun for attacks on workers' rights in this country, especially in agribusiness and other sectors which are reliant on exports to Britain. It would be a major challenge to workers and the trade union movement. Preparations are needed to say "No" to any Brexit-shock-doctrine attack on workers' rights. There should be a conference of workers' representatives from Britain and Ireland to discuss joint action and a demand for co-ordinated action. We caught a glimpse of the power of such action in the case of Ryanair workers who resisted attacks. Any company threatening redundancies using the pretext of Brexit should be taken into democratic public ownership.

Obviously, a key question here is the Border. Catholics and Protestants in the North, together with ordinary people in the South and Britain, are in agreement and against proposed new border controls on this island or in the Irish Sea. There is much talk about the negative economic impact of such border controls. This is a view with which we agree and people are right to be concerned. Of particular concern is the increase in sectarian tensions that would result and the danger this would pose.

The problem is that in reality the Government, backed up by Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, have enthusiastically gone along with the European Commission in using the Border issue as a pawn in the negotiations with the British Government. The Commission is not speaking about the Border because it cares about the working class on either side of it but because the issue strengthens its hand in the negotiations. The danger in such an approach is obvious. Strategically, it may make sense for the Commission at a certain stage to sacrifice pawns. We need to say clearly that working class people are not pawns to be sacrificed. Regardless of how the negotiations go, the bottom line must be that there must be no border on this island or in the Irish Sea. The Government should not agree to anything which would see that take place, but we can have no faith in either side participating in thee negotiations. Instead working people need to come together not only to fight against the attacks on our living standards but also to build a very different Europe - a socialist Europe - where, instead of rules operating to maximise the profits of the millionaires, we would have democratic rules to ensure the interests of the millions.

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