Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have this brief opportunity to contribute on the Bill. I commend the officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and nine other Departments on the work they have done in ensuring that we have some degree of readiness for a disorderly Brexit, which, of course, must be avoided at all costs. Like my colleague, Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, I welcome the decision by Keir Starmer, Jeremy Corbyn and the UK Labour Party to move towards a second referendum to prevent a no-deal Brexit. I commend the work of the Tánaiste in involving our Irish-American colleagues, particularly at national congressional level, and bringing in the important lever of the 30 or 40 million Americans of recent Irish descent to try to even up the disparity in power between us and the UK.

The Bill and the draft heads of the Bill bring home the dawning realisation of the profound damage a disorderly Brexit could cause to Ireland in areas like health, education, social welfare, justice, migration and our economy, especially agriculture. In particular, it could put at risk the incredible work done by so many people to progress North-South developments under the Good Friday Agreement.

I thank the Oireachtas Library and Research Service which provided a very helpful digest of the general scheme of the Bill and an updated version on the Bill as laid before the House. I note some differences between the heads of Bill and the Bill as presented to the House. Where is the section of the Bill dealing with data governance? On railways, the draft Bill contained a section regarding the Dublin-Belfast line.

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