Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, for being here this evening. Brexit is bad for everybody, no matter what format it takes. The UK has sought it but the consequent adjustments that all will have to make to accommodate Brexit are mostly negative. Brexit will have profoundly negative economic implications for Ireland regardless of it being a hard or soft option.

In the case of a hard Brexit it may be catastrophic by adding a measure of political uncertainty to the hard-won Northern Ireland peace process. In the case of a soft Brexit Ireland will be losing a vast market for goods, especially agricultural goods. Those of us in County Clare are very worried. The county is substantially dependent on agriculture and tourism. Farmers are concerned that access to the UK markets will be damaged. Farming is the backbone of rural Ireland and so any form of Brexit would be bad, but a hard Brexit would be devastating for the farming community, especially since 40% of agricultural exports go to the United Kingdom. Those in the tourism industry are also concerned as those in business and industry hate uncertainty.

Once the UK exits the European Union Shannon Airport will be without connectivity to a European hub. Currently, the airport is not linked to a hub on mainland Europe and at the moment European connectivity is serviced through Heathrow Airport, London. Shannon Airport and foreign direct investment and tourism in the west of Ireland will be challenged in overcoming the problems faced by an organised Brexit. A hard Brexit is unthinkable. Right now, the Shannon Group is calling on the Government for support in protecting EU connectivity. The company is asking for a connectivity funding programme to secure strategic routes. Shannon needs access to a European Union hub.

The UK has sought its freedom, for want of a better term, from Europe by removing itself from the largest free trade zone in the world. This is quite unbelievable. Brexit was voted on without informed consent and thus its validity must be questioned. Misinformation was used to influence the vote. This was not apparently from outside the UK but from within. Hard Brexiteers have put narrow national self-interest above a wider world view. They have neither put stability and co-operation above chaos and dissension nor the fragile peace ahead of old sectarian rhetoric and old-fashioned century-old politics. Brexit is the triumph of misguided ideology over pragmatism.

Economic models tell us that countries trade with their neighbours. Yet, the UK is rejecting its neighbours for people tens of thousands of miles across the globe. It prefers the World Trade Organization to the EU and fictional trade deals to real trade deals. Brexit was fermented in a vat of misinformation and opportunism. It was rendered by a Tory government that put party before country.

In Northern Ireland, the DUP has rejected what is possibly the best deal available. Those in the party claim to be the true upholders of the union with the United Kingdom while supporting Brexiteers who will undermine the UK no matter what the cost politically or economically. The DUP prefers a no-deal to a good deal in defiance of the wishes of the majority of the people in Northern Ireland, including those in businesses and the farming community. The party has ignored the fact that Northern Ireland has always been different from the UK.

If the DUP is a prisoner of history and outdated ideology, so too is Sinn Fein. The focus on the DUP in this debate is understandable but there seems be some reluctance, to date anyway, to take a hard look at what Sinn Féin is doing. The lack of an Assembly in Northern Ireland denies Sinn Féin a voice that could articulate views other than those of the DUP. This has allowed strands 2 and 3 of the Good Friday Agreement to wither. It is clear that the health of the North-South institutions is in decline. The maintenance of human rights in the North was to be ensured by the European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as by the European Convention on Human Rights. Brexit will sever these guarantees.

The DUP has ten seats at Westminster and Sinn Féin has seven. In the past, there have been many Irish nationalist voices at Westminster. John Hume, Seamus Mallon and Mark Durkan were among the most distinguished of them. Now, there is no voice of nationalism from Northern Ireland to be heard in the House of Commons because Sinn Féin members will not take their seats and vote. I understand the historical reasons for abstentionism. They date from a time when Ireland was clamouring for its independence and the right to take its place among the nations of the world. What was apparent, appropriate and pragmatic 100 years ago may not be the answer to the needs of today. We all must change and evolve. I urge Sinn Féin members to take their seats and defend the Good Friday Agreement in this perilous hour.

The European Commission and the other 27 capitals of the European Union have supported the necessity of defending the Good Friday Agreement by preventing a hard border. Mrs. May is trying to deliver a Brexit deal that will achieve this aim. Sinn Féin should support this aim. The status of Northern Ireland within the withdrawal agreement is similar to Schroedinger's cat, simultaneously inside and outside the European Union and occupying the best of both worlds. This is the most apt analogy because it confers on Northern Ireland a special status with special benefits. Yet, the DUP interprets the draft withdrawal agreement as diminishing the status of Northern Ireland rather than enhancing its status.

The complexities of the Border between the North and South of this island did not feature in the run-up to the Brexit referendum at all yet the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland has been the most contentious and difficult issue to resolve. We should remember that the backstop will only be triggered should a final overall agreement not be finalised at the end of the transition period in July 2020. Within the withdrawal agreement the Northern Ireland backstop has become a UK-wide backstop. Thus there will be no barriers to trade either North-South across the border or east-west across the Irish Sea. The backstop is not time-limited, it is legally binding and it requires mutual agreement to end it. The backstop, if triggered, would make Northern Ireland a special case. It would be part of a single UK-EU customs territory. It would allow a level playing field between the EU and the UK. It would benefit from the EU customs code, allowing Northern Ireland businesses to place products on the Single Market and the UK market. Northern Ireland would remain aligned to a limited set of rules relating to the Single Market to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. This gives Northern Ireland the best of both worlds economically. This has been recognised by the farming and business communities in Northern Ireland. It is certainly better than no deal. However, reality does not influence the hard Brexiteers. A no-deal hard Brexit and the consequent hard border will damage both countries. At the end of the day we must prepare for the fact that, while Mrs. May cannot be underestimated, the mathematics of the House of Commons is against the draft withdrawal agreement.

I support the motion and commend the Irish Government on reaching the best possible Brexit.

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