Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Members can ask questions afterwards. When the national development plan was launched last year, I asked why there was not a cent for Rosslare Europort. There was no mention of it. The Taoiseach said in the Dáil that Irish Rail did not ask for investment, and therefore the matter was not taken any further. If one wants to take that particular issue, when we were in government we commissioned Indecon to examine a proper development strategy for Rosslare Europort but nothing has been done on that since we left office. It is no surprise that there are higher levels of unemployment outside of Dublin. A laissez-faireeconomy does not deliver a fair economy or equal opportunity for every worker - far from it. Many of the best industrial jobs have been in State enterprises such as the ESB or Bord na Móna, or in private enterprises such as the dairy co-ops that have benefited from close co-operation with the State in the development of the agricultural economy, something the Tánaiste knows well. A laissez-faireeconomic policy will never deliver quality jobs for all, because this Government is not truly motivated to do so.

What is also worrying for the Labour Party and for working people is the disregard of the Government for social rights and workers' rights. Given the pictures that are now on social media, the Government is happy to associate itself with the far right nationalist government of Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian premier. Orbán has refused European consensus on migration. He has made homophobic and misogynistic speeches. He has proposed slavery laws that would require hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime from Hungarian workers. Increasingly, we see Orbán's government taking a heavy-handed response to protestors, with pepper spray used indiscriminately against crowds of young people. Security guards have dragged opposition members of parliament out of TV studios when they protested against government censorship of the news. In the latest twist, Orbán has now called for a far right rival party to run against the European People's Party, EPP, of which it is a member. It has encouraged Italian populists, Polish ultra-nationalists and others in the creation of such a political grouping so that "anti-migration politicians" can take over the institutions of the European Union.

How can Fine Gael or any other member party of the EPP tolerate a situation where one of its own members is calling for a rival to undermine themselves and the very values that underpin the EU? Brexit is about far more than just trade. It is about the kind of country we are able to build because of the supporting framework of rights and protections that are a mandatory part of membership of the EU. Our position in Europe is about upholding democracy, upholding worker’s rights and upholding social and environmental protections in order for them to be the shining light that they are.

The Government has been exposed as woefully unprepared for the trade dimension of Brexit by the lack of a serious economic investment plan to address the country’s post-Brexit needs. We can look at the UK and ask what it has been doing in the time since the Brexit vote but we can ask the same question of the Taoiseach. To take one example, I have no confidence that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has an adequate grip on his portfolio. In truth, I think most members of the Government feel as I do on that matter, even more so since his performance this week.

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