Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----and everything else that went on in Fianna Fáil. We can talk about the Mahon tribunal and all of that if Deputy Micheál Martin wishes.

The reality is that Sinn Féin has played a constructive role in respect of Brexit. We have made it very clear that it is not an orange or a green issue. We have said, in the absence of a deal, that we are committed to making sure the withdrawal agreement goes through and we will use whatever influence we can to convince our European partners and those in the North to support the agreement. In the context of a no-deal Brexit, however, there is a demand in the North, as we have seen from recent opinion polls, for the constitutional question to be put. We have here a united Ireland party, the so-called republican party, which will not breathe a word on the issue of Irish unity. That is despite Prime Minister Theresa May having talked about her union only surviving with consent and a Tory MP challenging the Democratic Unionist Party in the House of Commons by telling it that the people of the North are looking towards Irish unity. We dare not breathe a word of that in the House, however.

I hope Deputy Martin will take the Christmas period to reflect on playing a positive role and doing what the former deputy leader of his party argued for, namely, contesting elections in the North. I ask him and his party to put some skin in the game, stand in the North and put the credentials of the Fianna Fáil Party out there by letting the people of the North decide, instead of sniping from the sidelines in a dismissive and non-constructive way.

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