Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

The current draft Brexit proposal is a document of more than 500 pages. If it is approved at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels next Sunday, it will be put before the UK Parliament for ratification. That is to occur after the meeting, not in advance of it. That is the opposite to what we are doing here. In my view, the Dáil should not approve any measure until the final text emerges from Brussels, as its provisions will deeply affect Irish citizens both North and South. This is all the more urgent because the request of the European Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly, for the publication by the EU and the United Kingdom of a key document on North-South relations has not yet been met. Ms O'Reilly called on the European Commission to publish a key document spelling out all the areas of North-South co-operation under the Good Friday Agreement that are at risk because of Brexit.

Ms O'Reilly was reported as stating that the mapping table her office inspected shows in comprehensive form the very many elements of cross-Border co-operation underpinned by EU law which are factual in nature and that while the commission, as requested by the UK, declined to release the table in order not to disturb the negotiations, there is now no obvious reason for the table not to be published. Importantly, it was reported Ms O'Reilly further stated that as major decisions in relation to the future of the United Kingdom and its relationship with the EU are now about to be made, there is a strong public interest case for its release.

When British, Irish and EU officials explored all the avenues of North-South co-operation, they discovered there were approximately 120 areas underpinned by EU law and these are set out in this secret document. That secret document deals with the so-called mapping exercise, which became a key plank in the Government's strategy to highlight the risks to the Good Friday Agreement. The mapping exercise highlights the extent to which North-South co-operation relies upon, or is enhanced by, mutual EU membership by both Ireland and the United Kingdom.

In view of the fact that the United Kingdom and the EU have not yet released this document, it is an abdication of responsibility by the Government to ask the Dáil to approve or disapprove of any proposed Brexit agreement. We must also remember the various issues raised by the 1,000 Northern nationalists when they wrote to the Taoiseach recently. Also, what is clear and concerning, not only of itself but of how various other issues might be dealt with in this agreement, is the replacement of a paragraph in the 2017 document regarding the rights of citizens in the North with a non-binding rights clause. That is very significant.

I call on the Taoiseach to release the document referred to by Ms O'Reilly today and in any event, before a vote of any kind on the proposed deal takes place in the Dáil. It is worth repeating that Ms O'Reilly was reported as stating that, as major decisions in relation to the future of the United Kingdom and its relationship with the EU are now about to be made, there is a strong public interest case for its release. Of course, it is clear that the public interest case for its release is much stronger in Ireland than in any other European country.

The consideration of the Government proposal tonight must be postponed until after that secret document referred to by Ms O'Reilly has been published. Many of the matters dealt with in the draft deal can only be fully understood in the context of the unpublished document.

Of course, there is no need for a vote here prior to Sunday's meeting. The British Prime Minister is not having a vote in Westminster - Mrs. May does not need one. Neither does the Taoiseach need a vote here. The Taoiseach has told us that it has no legal effect anyway.

Will the final document be brought back to the Dáil for debate and decision? I believe it must because that agreement affects this country, North and South, and its citizens very seriously indeed. It is my view that this motion is a political manoeuvre to rush this draft deal with unknown consequences through the Dáil.

Regarding the various amendments that have been tabled, I believe it would be wrong of me to give any section of the Irish people, North or South, to understand that these amendments would in any way protect them because they are mere declarations.

I propose that this debate be adjourned until the O'Reilly document, as I called it, is published to give us an opportunity to assess to what extent this 500 page draft document protects human rights and labour rights of the Irish people, North and South. If that proposal to adjourn the debate is not accepted, the only responsible thing I can do as an individual Deputy is to abstain on the proposal and the amendments until I have sight of and an opportunity to study the secret document referred to by the EU Ombudsman, Ms O'Reilly.

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