Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is ten minutes for me and five for Deputy O'Sullivan. I may not take the full ten in any event. The recent meeting we had with the Tánaiste and his officials on Brexit planning was very useful. It was good to hear about the steps being taken to ensure things keep functioning in the event of a no-deal Brexit. That is very important. It is reassuring for the people of Donegal that medical care and such matters are being dealt with. It is vitally important to people's lives in my county that we are preparing to continue on with these things. It is clear from the Tánaiste's officials that provision can continue regardless of whether Britain leaves the EU. That is vital for everyone living in Border areas. From what has been said in previous contributions, it is clear that work remains to be done around cross-Border workers. It is vital that they can continue to cross the Border to work. People really need to know what the position is. There are many thousands of people in Donegal and across the Border region who live on one side of the Border - whether in the North or the South - and work on the other. The position in this regard must be clarified. In any event, I welcome the fact that work is taking place on cross-Border medical care. It is positive.

It is interesting that there has been no discussion thus far in the debate of fishing and the fishing industry generally. I heard the Tánaiste state during Leaders' Questions that fishing is being protected at European level. Is it all going to happen at European level or will anything happen relating to fishing at an Irish level? It was not included in the discussion we had on preparations the last day. Indeed, operational fishing was not mentioned in the contingency action plan published last December either. There is a need to provide some reassurance in this regard. I acknowledge that fishing is a difficult issue in that while the marketing end of it is well taken care of here by way of supports for the marketing of fish products, the catching of the fish, particularly mackerel and nephrops, or prawns, takes place in EU waters. I would like to hear more from the Government on what is being done in that regard. If it is being done at European level, the Government should say so in order to clarify the matter. Our officials treat Irish waters as European waters.

4 o’clock

It is probably a European issue rather than an Irish issue. That, in itself, says a lot about the fishing industry. I think this needs to be clarified for the fishermen. According to a statement issued by the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation in recent days, it is clear that fishing has been left behind because it is not being mentioned during the negotiations process or during all the talks that are happening. That needs to be clarified. The Minister, Deputy Creed, seems surprised that I am saying it could be clarified. Clarification is needed to ensure the message is out there.

The main thing I want to talk about is the importance of the backstop proposals. I think the backstop is under threat. Maybe the Government has identified this and is looking at it. Many statements have been made over the past week, but I would like to focus on the remarks of the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas. He told the broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that new talks between Britain and the EU are needed. Reuters reported in the last couple of days that Mr. Maas said that the backstop solution to the issue of the Border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland needed to be discussed. That is a signal that the backstop is up for agreement on the European side. That does not surprise me, on a personal level, given that Ireland makes up just 1% of the EU. German and French industry will ultimately dictate what happens. If there is going to be an English crash out of the Union over the backstop, they will drop the backstop. That is the reality of the difficult situation the Government and Ireland as a country are in.

The one problem I have had with this all along has been the extent to which we have been trusting Europe to look after us. We should know that they will not look after us. We know how they dealt with us during the banking crisis. We know how they looked after us in the case of the bailout. They forced €50 billion worth of debt on top of the citizens of Ireland. That is still working out today as people's houses are coming under threat and being repossessed. There has been a move away from State debt to personal debt as part of the outworkings of the crash. This is being forced on us by Europe. I do not see Europe as our friend. Ultimately, this will come down to the national interests of member states. How do we protect ourselves in that regard? I know it is a difficult situation. We are between a rock and a hard place. That is the reality. If we put too much trust in Europe to deal with this issue, we will leave ourselves open. That is a real problem.

We need to be careful. I know the French Government has said it is fully supportive of the backstop, but we can see that some of these messages are starting to break up. It was interesting to hear the Brits saying on the radio during the week that everything comes down to the wire in European negotiations. Maybe they are playing a long game and bringing it down to the wire. If Europe and the Brits blink at the end, the backstop agreement could be dropped in the interests of trade. That will benefit us in terms of east-west trade, but it will shaft the people of the North. That is what I think might happen, unfortunately. For these reasons, I think we should look for a vote in the North on reunification regardless of whether there is a deal. Ultimately, that is the only solution. If Ireland is reunified, the Brits can do whatever they want. That would ultimately be the best solution for us in the long run. I think it is something that must come onto the Government's radar. This may be a way of making it happen.

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