David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The starting point of any debate on Brexit and this withdrawal agreement for Members of this House is to acknowledge that there is no good Brexit. We have to remind ourselves, as Teachta McDonald has done, that a majority of people in the North voted to stay in the European Union.

That has to be the catalyst for us to respond to the needs of people in the North. The majority cross-party view in the North of Ireland is that we should not have a hardening of the Border. Brexit, as it was presented, is not what the majority of people want. The draft agreement, therefore, is the absolute bare minimum needed to protect the rights of the people of the North.

My party has worked constructively with the Government through the stakeholder forum which the Tánaiste led, in Dáil committees, inside this Chamber and outside this Chamber through the work of our MEPs and MPs dealing with parties in Westminster and the European Parliament. Sinn Féin was clear on the need for a special or unique arrangement for the North to ensure the Good Friday Agreement was protected in all its parts, there was no hardening of the Border on the island of Ireland and the rights of Irish and EU citizens were fully protected. While there has been movement and we acknowledge the gains that have been made in this agreement on the Border, the same progress has not been made in protecting the Good Friday Agreement and the rights of citizens in the North. I hope the Taoiseach understands that while citizens and businesses North and South need certainty on trade and the Border, they also need certainty on rights. A person who lives in the North of Ireland, whether an Irish citizen or a British citizen, needs to be able to vindicate his or her rights as a European citizen where he or she lives. There is an obligation and a responsibility on the Irish Government to make sure of that.

Sinn Féin also argued that frictionless movement of goods from Ireland through Britain on their way to the rest of the European Union was required. While there are outstanding issues, the draft agreement provides some assurance for the citizens of the North and businesses in regard to the Border and trade.

The agreement is now on the table and subject to ratification. All eyes will be on the summit in the next few days. However, in the short and medium terms we need to turn our attention to the issue of Europe. The uncomfortable truth that some people in this Chamber need to face up to is that the drive to create a European superstate which acts in the interests of an elite, lacks democracy and is becoming increasingly militarised is pushing voters into the hands of the far right. What Europe needs is more democracy, not less. Senior figures in the European institutions are in many cases unelected and unaccountable to the people they serve. The economic crisis showed that when push came to shove, the European Union backed the banks and the financial elite over the needs of ordinary people. That message is not lost on people in Ireland and across the European Union. The federalists need to be sent a very clear message by politicians in Ireland. The Irish people do not want a European superstate. That would be a more undemocratic Europe in which the big institutions would have far too much power, making decisions affecting the lives of others without being fully held to account. We all know what happens in that scenario. In this State we can point to many examples, including the most recent scandals, to show that it does not work.

The creeping federalisation of Europe did not happen by chance or overnight. It happened with the passing of every single treaty, treaties that my party did not support and champion. We saw that the creation of a European superstate, unelected people having the powers they have and the economic orthodoxy underpinning the European Union were not in the interests of people who live on the island of Ireland. All of the treaties that gave the big institutions their power created the undemocratic Europe we live in today. It is absolutely clear that the actions of the European Union, especially the European Commission, are feeding the growth of Europe's extreme right. Poll after poll shows that trust in the institutions is falling, adding to the rise of what are essentially fascist parties in Europe. That is not in the interests of anybody who lives in Europe. We are fortunate that we have not seen the rise of the far right in this State-----

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