Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputy Michael Healy-Rae. I am happy to speak to this important Bill. I acknowledge that this is significant and complex legislation and I salute all those who have been committed to its drafting and preparation. As the explanatory memorandum makes clear, the Bill prioritises those issues that need to be addressed urgently and immediately through primary legislation at national level. Many other issues continue to be addressed at a national level through secondary legislation, policy and economic responses, on an administrative basis and through targeted Brexit-related resources, as well as at European Union level. In respect of certain legislative measures being dealt with at EU level, negotiations are ongoing. Unfortunately, they seem to be negotiating down a cul-de-sac every day and there is no way of getting back out. We will have to make a new exit if we are to hope they find a way through.

A key part of Ireland’s planning and preparation is protecting and maintaining the common travel area, CTA, and the associated rights and privileges. Both the Irish and British Governments are committed to maintaining the CTA in all circumstances and have committed to undertaking all the work necessary, including through legislative provision, to ensure that the CTA rights and privileges are protected. It is a major worry for any of us with business, friends or family in the UK, and it is also a worry for tourism, which must be protected. People are concerned because there is so much uncertainty, which is the biggest issue for everybody but especially farmers, business people and exporters. Ordinary working people are very concerned, as well as housewives and breadwinners. Every day we hear of big possible increases in the cost of commodities. There is much uncertainty.

I also acknowledge the existence of the Brexit loan scheme, which was in place prior to the introduction of this legislation. I am interested in the number of applications made under the scheme since it opened for applications on 28 March, 2018, so the Minister of State might get those figures if he can. As the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine acknowledged at the time, Brexit is clearly a significant challenge, given our unique exposure to the UK market. We have very close ties with the country and with Northern Ireland in particular. We know and accept the fact that food businesses will need to focus on competitiveness and innovation to maintain the growth in Irish agrifood exports, which reached a record €13.6 billion in 2017. It is phenomenal and we have done so much in our constituencies to support the people involved. I salute the farmers and the many producers in Tipperary, from Carrick-on-Suir right to the bridge at Portumna. There are many producers, small and large. I am particularly concerned about the small producers because they could not sustain any serious losses or prolonged delays. There is uncertainty about ports, etc.

The Brexit loan scheme is supposed to ensure that at least 40% of the €300 million will be available to food businesses, and that is to be welcomed. The Minister, Deputy Creed, must ensure that it is available. The omnibus legislation must ensure it is available and we should not have to wait to see what will be the impact. That would be a lethargic approach that would be scary for producers, whether they are small farmers or business people. It may become necessary to extend the loan scheme or revise its terms of application in light of the fact that it will only remain open until 31 March 2020. We must be kept abreast of what is happening.

On the broader political front, we want to avoid a so-called disorderly Brexit or a no-deal Brexit. My colleagues and I in the Rural Independent Group, RIG, want to be constructive but I must nevertheless be critical. First, I must praise the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, for giving so many briefings and working long and arduous hours. I acknowledge his understanding of the matter, and he has been on top of his game. Unfortunately, the Taoiseach has put one foot in the hole one day, two feet the next day and nearly fell into the hole the third day. He says whatever came to his head that morning. He is totally inept and outrageous. I attended a briefing one evening in his office, along with other political leaders, when I represented the RIG. I asked him about the potential hard border at Tyrone, Monaghan, Aughnacloy and south Armagh. I know the area very well, having travelled across it thousands of times. He flippantly said the border could be in Calais or Rotterdam, which was a careless remark. This is real politics and not about just being nice on television, telling people we love them and high-fiving his other colleagues. Oliver Callan accurately portrays him along with other Ministers, Deputies Eoghan Murphy and Paschal Donohoe. The Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney, is busting his backside, along with others, to try to do what he can.

The Taoiseach needs to be reawakened on this. I know he does not understand much outside the Pale but he needs to find out pretty fast what is going on. The Minister of State is from a rural area and I have good respect for him. He should be able to tell the Taoiseach and call him aside on this. Are the Minister of State and his colleagues so admiring of the Taoiseach that they cannot say anything to him? We have spoken about the effect of Brexit on Fianna Fáil's confidence and supply agreement; I have said it is all supply and no confidence. It is like a glass bowl that Fianna Fáil is minding that might be in the sitting room with daffodils in it this time of year. One might be afraid the children would knock it and break it. If this agreement breaks, I do not know where Fianna Fáil will hide or what it will hide behind. There will be nothing to hide behind, not even a daffodil picked for the bowl. The Taoiseach must understand this is about real politics, with real effects on people's daily lives. People are concerned so there is no need for showboating, high-fiving and producing sound bites. It is nonsense. If a child said such things, we could not slap him or her any more but we could reprimand the child, give out lines or putting him or her into the bold corner. The Taoiseach needs to be put into some corner and kept out of sight for the next couple of months because the situation is so delicate, volatile and serious.

The risks that such a scenario presents to us here on this island are incredibly serious. According to the excellent briefing provided by the Parliamentary Budget Office, PBO, there are several main areas of concern. I thank the office for those briefings. Most people are putting their shoulder to the wheel but the captain of the team is letting us all down. He is not used to being captain and perhaps he never thought he would be and this is some dream. He is the captain now and he must act like one and be serious. According to the PBO, the size of the economic impact in 2019 is unknown. Economic forecasters estimate that gross domestic product growth will be between 1.4 and 3 percentage points below what it would have been in an orderly Brexit. That will have a major impact on our budget and for us in balancing our books, etc. It is accepted that these estimates are highly uncertain and indicative, that it is going to hurt us economically and that the fiscal impact of a no-deal Brexit will be significant, possibly resulting in a budget deficit from decreased tax revenue and increased Government expenditure necessitated by a no-deal Brexit. There could be a major impact.

However, it is not just in the area of trade or finance that we should be concerned. I am speaking specifically about the challenges that arise with respect to the Border and an increase in cross-Border crime opportunities. We do not want to go back to the dark old days of smuggling, intimidation and threats. I went through the area when it was not safe to do so back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I asked Mr. Michel Barnier about this when he was in the Dáil. I go to Croatia once a year and on to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where a massive border has been built in the past ten years. It is unreal. It is on the motorway and one can be delayed for an hour or perhaps two hours sometimes. When I asked Mr. Barnier how the border here would be different from the one in Bosnia and Hezegovina, he brushed it off. The border will be scary because the same rules apply to any perimeter, whether it is in Ireland or the border in Croatia.

Senator Mark Daly yesterday circulated disturbing research conducted by UNESCO chairs, Professor Pat Dolan and Professor Mark Brennan.

The research was based on a recommendation in the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement's report Brexit & the Future of Ireland - Uniting Ireland & Its People In Peace & Prosperity. The committee has done significant work and I salute all those involved in that and na daoine ar fud na tíre who gave the vote and supported it. The proportion at the time was very high. The research indicates that "There will be a return to violence in Northern Ireland in the event of the installation of infrastructure, custom checks and security on the Irish border as a result of a no deal Brexit.." The report also states, "The only issue is the scale of the violence." That is a harrowing and fearful thought. This is honest research. It is a terrifying scenario for the people who live there and possibly cross the Border umpteen times a day. I have been on farms that straddle the Border. We have seen just a barbed wire fence between the North and the South just like a field in Kerry, Tipperary or Kilkenny so, thankfully, there is no physical Border. It has all been removed. There was a time when someone had to travel 30 miles to get to from Scotsman in Monaghan to a town in south Tyrone in to see somebody in a nursing home. They could drive for four or five miles across the Border but the roads were all cratered as a result of explosions so they had to do that round trip when only the major roads were kept open.

Section 4 relates to health arrangements. Specific support is provided in respect of the maintenance of existing common travel area arrangements. This will give the Minister for Health the power to make an order to enable necessary healthcare arrangements to be maintained between Ireland and the UK. These include maintaining existing arrangements relating to health services that are currently in operation between the State and the UK such as, for example, access to health services in the UK for persons here as well as access to health services here for persons from the UK and reimbursement arrangements. Deputies Michael and Danny Healy-Rae and Michael Collins have sent approximately 25 bus loads of people up north under the cross-border healthcare initiative in order to have basic procedures that should be carried out here. It will be a disaster if this fails. The buses are going up on a weekly basis to enable people to get basic treatment they should get here. The sad part is that it is coming out of the health budget in any event so the Government does not know whether it is coming or going. It did not know whether it was coming or going even before the referendum on Brexit. It is neglecting the people and hoping they will not see what it is doing but, by God, they will get some help. Ballot papers feature Braille so the voters will find the ones they want to vote for and will miss many members of the Government when the time comes. We need to sort out those health issues.

Members of the Rural Independent Group and I have seen upfront the absolute necessity of maintaining the strength of things such as the cross-border healthcare directive. This is especially true given that we seem simply unable to get to grips with the health crisis here. People who are going blind have gone up on the buses to which I refer. I have not taken many of them myself but my colleagues from Kerry and west Cork have done so. Coming home, these people are so delighted that they see the cattle in the fields, the Mourne mountains and flags flying coming across the Border. Those to whom I refer are being neglected. We are talking about simple cataract operations. We are sending volunteers out to field hospitals in Third-World countries who are carrying out procedures by the dozen in tents yet the cannot be done here. The system is so bureaucratic. The Government is so uncaring when it comes to ordinary people.

I must be critical of how late the Government has left this and of the way it is at sixes and sevens. I fear that, as with most legislation, barristers are rubbing their hands because they are making money. There are opportunities for that in a Bill that has had no pre-legislative scrutiny. Like the Ceann Comhairle, I am a member of the committee that waived it along but so many items of legislation have been rolled into one. I can see barristers already having parties because there will be challenges in respect of flaws found in the Bill. They can exist for one Bill, never mind an omnibus Bill such as this which covers so many different areas. The courts will be busy and the fellows with the wigs will have great fun with this legislation if there is a need to implement it. I am hoping that it will not need to be implemented. It has been rushed. The Government should have prepared this legislation 12 months ago. It was just too gung-ho. It thought that Europe would stick with us. It seems to be sticking with us fairly well but we should remember the bank guarantee, for which I voted. I voted of my own free will but it was the worst thing I ever did. Remember the bailout. I called it a clean-out on the part of our friends in Europe because that is what it was. Time will tell where Europe is going, what it will do and how supportive it will be. It looks good so far. We have to do all the tough talking with our nearest neighbours.

On several occasions the Taoiseach was very critical of our nearest neighbours, not that I have any love for them. However, I stated that they are our nearest neighbours with whom we signed the Good Friday Agreement. I am a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport also spoke, which is nothing new because he says strange things in any event. I think he has been contaminated by the remarks regarding Jupiter, Mars and science fiction made by the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan. This is serious stuff. I support the legislation but preparations should have begun earlier. I am worried about the consequences, namely, the legal challenges and the legislation being picked apart with a fine-tooth comb by those seeking issues to bring before the courts.

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