Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join with my colleagues on these benches in stating my broad support for this legislation, although, like other speakers, I hope it will never have to be used. We want to do all we can to facilitate its swift passage through the Oireachtas so the Bill can be enacted before 29 March. While no one likes the circumstances that require us to pass this Bill, the political brinksmanship and game-playing by the Government and Parliament of our neighbouring island mean it is vital this legislation is in place.

While I wish we did not have to pass this Bill at all and that political sense and logic would have taken hold at Westminster before now, I am still concerned we are leaving this until the 59th minute of the eleventh hour.

The delays in both the publication of this Bill and in the full delivery of all the necessary preparations to deal with a no-deal Brexit are not welcome. Neither is the continuing and ongoing uncertainty about what happens at the Border in 30 days' time if the British Government and political establishment drive over the edge of the cliff and go for a no-deal hard crash out of Europe. As a Border Deputy, representing Cavan and Monaghan, I am still awaiting a proper answer from the Government regarding the question of what happens at the Border on 29 March if there is no deal.

We all hope that does not happen but with only one month to go we have to move beyond issuing positive statements about how we hope such a dreadful scenario can be avoided. We have to move into the area of proper contingency planning. The absence of a clear answer to, and clear preparations in this legislation on, the question of what happens at the Border after 29 March is, indeed, being cited, erroneously, by arch-Brexiteers as evidence that Brexit has no ramifications for the Border or the Good Friday Agreement.

Earlier today on the BBC "Politics Live" programme, the Labour Party Leave-supporting MP, Kate Hoey, stated that she noted that the Belfast agreement was so relevant that even last week, when the Irish Government produced its plans for a WTO arrangement and what it would do as an Irish Government, there was no mention of a Border. She continued by stating that if a hard border was not needed in the scenario of Britain leaving the EU on WTO rules, a hard border would certainly not be needed when a proper deal was achieved.

Many of us in this House from the Border area, and there are a few of us, including myself, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, and Deputy Ó Caoláin, have been on various British-Irish parliamentary bodies with Kate Hoey over the years. We know how out of touch and ill-informed she is when it comes to the realities of life on this island and, indeed, to the importance of the Good Friday Agreement. She might remember that agreement was endorsed by the electorate in referendums North and South in May 1998. She propagates what I would most politely call a very jaundiced view of politics in this country and displays a dangerous arrogance about the real, tangible benefits of the Good Friday Agreement.

I am still concerned, however, that the reluctance of this Government to address directly what will happen at the Border in the event of a no-deal Brexit is being used against us and our interests in Britain. I urge the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, and the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, to address this issue as soon as possible. Any form of Border infrastructure is against the spirit and purpose of the Good Friday Agreement. This cannot be said often or loudly enough. We know our friends and colleagues in Europe get this message but we need to redouble our efforts in ensuring that our colleagues on the neighbouring island understand that as well.

The ease and arrogance with which some dismiss the centrality and importance of the Good Friday Agreement to the three strands of relationships, on this island and between our neighbouring islands, is breathtaking. For far too long before the Good Friday Agreement, the two communities along the Border lived with their backs to each other. Towns and villages were cut off from their natural hinterlands by an arbitrary line imposed a century ago. The Good Friday Agreement and the consequent dismantling of Border infrastructures and installations, along with the opening of roads and crossings, allowed communities to slowly and gradually reconnect with each other.

Those flows of people, traffic and commerce across the Border have been steadily increasing since the Good Friday Agreement. At first, it was slow but now it is as if the Border had never been there. The Good Friday Agreement literally liberated the Border region.We cannot risk a return to the bad old days. I have noticed in some contributions here a tendency to think about the dangers and costs of Brexit as something that lie ahead of us, something that is over the horizon. As a Deputy for two Border counties, I assure Members that the costs of Brexit are already being felt and felt hard along the Border.

The local agrifood sector, the mushroom, beef and pigmeat industries, are already feeling the impact of Brexit through the uncertainty it has created for future investment. Even the withdrawal agreement, if passed, and as already outlined, will have impacts for the local agrifood sector. A no-deal Brexit, however, would completely devastate it, not just on this side of the Border but also on the other side. That is because, thankfully, our agrifood sector North and South has become interdependent since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Today, we have enterprises that are all-Ireland businesses that, prior to 1998, were solely sited either North or South. Many of those processing companies today have a major presence on both sides of the Border. That is to be welcomed.

Earlier in this debate, Deputy Micheál Martin mentioned the report in the yesterday's Financial Timeswhich stated the British Cabinet had agreed a tariff schedule relating to agricultural products to be lodged with the World Trade Organization on 29 March if there is no deal. Such a move would decimate the agrifood sector on this island and wipe out huge swathes of the sector in Cavan, Monaghan and the north west. I noticed that the Minister, Deputy Creed, in his earlier contribution mentioned he cannot introduce particular measures to assist the agrifood sector until it is known what deal emerges or if there is no-deal. I appreciate that. A message, however, needs to go out, particularly if there is going to be severe market disturbance of the agrifood sector, that supports will be put in place right away. Let us remember that when there were severe market disturbances in the past for the agrifood sector because of outbreaks of disease, such as foot-and-mouth and BSE, as well as the pork dioxin issue, the Fianna Fáil Governments at that time immediately put in place major financial supports to underpin the sector and make sure it got through those turbulent times. Those supports worked and the sector survived.

If particular difficulties, therefore, emerge from severe market disturbances in future, we cannot introduce support measures on a piecemeal and incremental basis. They need to be put in place right away to ensure confidence in the sector is not lost. We all know farm production cannot be switched on and off. Government Departments and agencies are attempting to reassure us that they will be ready when and if the effects of a no-deal Brexit strike. Those reassurances, however, become less convincing as the clock ticks down. Our agrifood sector is particularly exposed to a no-deal Brexit. While we welcome effort to diversify into new markets, it will take years for that to be successful and to achieve quantity. We need assurances that supports and protections will be in place immediately to deal with any fallout. In the short term, what will be done to assist the agrifood sector? The Government needs to answer that question.

I would also like to know what is planned concerning the impact of Brexit on the beef sector. I know it is intended that the Commission would support us to ensure the beef sector survives and comes through the Brexit transition. We need more details on those supports, however. How would the European Commission support the beef, dairy and pigmeat sectors in a no-deal Brexit scenario? I also remind the Minister and his colleagues in government that we can, indeed, have the most technologically advanced and well-designed website and-or app ready to roll out in March. In large parts of the north west, however, those aspects are of little use because we have neither the reliable broadband nor dependable mobile signals to access them. I accept that much preparation is already in place and that officials have worked extremely hard to prepare legislation and to put in place other supports. Some additional staff are also being assigned to deal with queries from businesses and the public.

I also know, however, that local businesses are also telling me they feel the preparations are not sufficient with barely one month ago. I have appealed to both the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, for the past two years regarding infrastructure. I have made the point several times during oral questions that everything concerning this situation is not within the competence of the Government to address. It cannot deal with all the fallout from Brexit.

However, there are some areas where it is totally within the Government's power to make decisions to provide additional much-needed investment in infrastructure in the Border region. We all know that poor infrastructure is an additional cost for business. To assist business and commerce in the Border region we urgently need an upgrade of infrastructure, particularly road infrastructure, broadband and telecommunications.

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