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

I spoke with the British Prime Minister last night and reiterated the common position of all of us here, which is that the basic protections afforded to Ireland in the withdrawal agreement, particularly the backstop, are non-negotiable and cannot be unpicked or diluted. I spelled out to her the need to ensure that the commitments agreed in last December's joint report by British and EU negotiators are honoured. That means no hardening of the Border on the island of Ireland, that citizens' rights are protected, and that the Good Friday Agreement is upheld in its entirety.

In December the Taoiseach said that he had a cast-iron guarantee. He said that he had "achieved what we sought to achieve" in respect of avoiding a hard border. He said what we had was "rock solid" and "politically bulletproof". In the midst of the deepening crisis at Westminster I am afraid to say that those words no longer hold. On Monday Mrs. May shelved her plan to hold a vote on the withdrawal agreement at Westminster and today she faces a vote of no confidence in her leadership. That is a matter for herself. What we need to be concerned with and what is our business is ploughing our furrow.

On the concerns around our ports and around investment in them, I am glad that the needs of Rosslare have finally dawned on the Taoiseach. The need for sectoral planning is unanswerable. We also now need to look at any prospect of a no deal scenario or crash come March. I will emphasise that this is not something anybody here, including Sinn Féin in particular, wants to see. When I and others asked the Taoiseach yesterday about contingency planning for a crash scenario, he said "preparations involve a number of elements including the hiring of staff such as customs' staff, veterinary inspectors [and] environmental health inspectors". That is all very well and good but, as we all know, a crash-out Brexit would be catastrophic for our island. It would rupture our economy, our social fabric, and our peace accords. The contingency planning required therefore goes well beyond the recruitment of additional officials.

I reminded Mrs. May last night that, in the event of a no deal situation arising, it is the strong view of Sinn Féin that a referendum on unity must be advanced as a matter of urgency and priority. Of course she disagrees with that because she is a unionist. That is fair enough, but the Taoiseach is Head of Government here. He should accept that Irish unity is the logical, sensible option to avoid the calamity of a crash or no deal scenario and everything that would entail for our island in the short and long term. I put it to the Taoiseach that in a situation in which the Good Friday Agreement is to be disregarded, a crash situation, we need to go back to the agreement and its provisions for a referendum on Irish unity. Giving the people their say would be the ultimate contingency plan.

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