Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to place on the record my agreement with Deputy Boyd Barrett in respect of the changes to personal independent payment and universal credit. The moves have been seriously damaging to working and vulnerable people. I remind the Deputy that, believe it or not, this scenario would have been far worse but for mitigation that was secured. That is not to defend those responsible but it is a function of ongoing British jurisdiction and the fact that the Tories are in government.

I do not believe we should make the mistake of going down the line of imagining, as Deputy Burton has, that the backstop disappears. The backstop will not be disappearing. It is clear to me from the legal advice that has been provided that the backstop stays in place unless and until, which is the wording. We should not get into a false discussion or give succour to those who would wish to ditch the backstop. If there is no backstop, there is no withdrawal agreement – sin é. That has been enunciated clearly and that line has been held.

The only circumstances in which we do not have a backstop are, of course, in the event of a crash. Whereas there is no majority for that, we cannot discount that it may happen. I am making the point to the Taoiseach more for him to have it in his line of thought rather than anything else. In addition to preparation for Brexit and the immediacy of that, we need to be mindful that, in the event of a crash, no hardening of the Border would be tolerable. We cannot philosophically sit back and simply absorb the damage that would arise. In such circumstances we would have to look to the scenario of removing the Border, that is to say, a border poll, a referendum, and putting the constitutional question. It is important that Government has this in its line of sight as well.

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