Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Anne Rabbitte. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the legislation. It is one of the most important Bills we have debated in this Chamber for quite some time. When we consider all the debates we have been having, what has been happening in the House of Commons, Brussels and Dublin since 2016 and how Brexit and the referendum came about, we realise that well-heeled people in the United Kingdom believed the European Union was the reason they had lost their way in the world. As we have seen, many small nations have been extremely successful over the past 100 years. The First World War was fought for the freedom of small nations but it took another half century before this concept was properly established. The European Union, formerly the European Economic Community, has played no small part in helping countries such as Ireland to get on the world stage and defend their corner as peers against anybody in the United Kingdom or anybody who has built up a massive fortune on the back of an empire dating back centuries. Those concerned pine for that.

Consider the fears people have had. Democracies made decisions right across the world immediately after the crash of 2008. Challenges arose over racism and immigration. These are among the main issues we will have to debate in the coming decades. We will have to determine how countries such as Ireland will deal with such issues and how they can prepare to engage internationally on them. Ireland has benefited enormously from its membership of the European Union. It also benefited enormously from what it did internally by offering free education and from the quality of the education it offered to its young people. We can stand shoulder to shoulder with any nation in terms of our education experience, our young people and the generations who have benefited from free education since it was introduced.

Where am I going with this? I am talking about Ireland being on par with or being able to negotiate its stance with any other member state in the European Union as an independent nation. Being an independent nation was such a dream for 800 years while Ireland was occupied. It is a matter of continuing to grow.

We are now at a crossroads in terms of Brexit and the continuing debate on the backstop. We have benefited enormously from internal politics over the past 20 or 25 years, or since the early 1990s when the peace process was put in place. The likes of Fr. Alec Reid went out of his way at Clonard monastery in Belfast to try to bring together warring factions from deeply divided communities. Of course, there is an awful lot of work to do. This is why we need the democratic process in the Six Counties to be as strong and vibrant as in the Twenty-six Counties. There are considerable challenges to ensure that we do everything we can to protect Ireland as a whole, that Brexit is not a defining moment or one that reignites old wounds, and that we do not hold any part of this island back because of dreams or ambitions of extremely well-heeled people within the United Kingdom's Tory Party. I could go on at length about that but we have to face what is in front of us. The legislation has many aspects knitting together the issues that will challenge us as a nation if there is no Brexit deal. Negotiations will be taking place until the last minute to prevent a no-deal Brexit or to find a solution.

Previous speakers have mentioned the agrifood industry. One of our major concerns is how Brexit will affect rural communities. Some say it could benefit urban communities in a major way. Rural communities, however, will be greatly challenged, particularly those along the west coast and those involved in beef and suckler farming. I have to put my hand up as I am a small suckler farmer. I realise the challenges that have been faced by the wider beef industry right across the country, particularly over the past 12 or 18 months. I am aware of the looming implications owing to Brexit. We must ensure we employ every tool we have to market our product, which is probably one of the most saleable agricultural products on the world market because of the regulations to which we have asked our farmers and other primary producers to adhere. They have embraced the regulations and are producing a world-class product. We have to ensure we have markets for it.

We must also consider communities that will be affected if there is a no-deal Brexit and if challenges arise over how we will negotiate with the United Kingdom immediately after an orderly Brexit, if that is possible to achieve.

The challenge will be for the Republic of Ireland to negotiate with the UK in getting our footprint in there. There has been talk and emphasis over the past number of years about how emerging markets will benefit the agriculture industry. Those are issues. Much work has been done by Ministers and officials have given time and commitment to try to get into those markets but the most important market we have is on our doorstep.

That is not only for the agriculture industry. Many companies export. Avonmore Electrical is a small, family-owned company just outside Kanturk. It is the type of company that a previous speaker referred to, one that has been built up over generations. Avonmore Electrical has built up and now exports wind in the Scottish highlands and right across the UK because it has a fantastic product.

Munster Joinery has a base in the United Kingdom and employs a huge volume of people on the Cork-Kerry border, taking in Duhallow and east Kerry and parts of west Limerick. But for Munster Joinery, we would have serious issues in our part of the country. It has a base in the UK and is working through Brexit and it is a huge concern.

All of those family companies that are small and indigenous, have sourced markets over the past number of decades and are going into the UK, will face challenges whether there is a no-deal Brexit on 29 March or a deal is subsequently hammered out between Ireland and the UK. That is where the real challenge will be. We must look to our European neighbours and ensure we get our products into Europe notwithstanding the land bridge issue and regulations that will have to take place.

Brexit is not good for Ireland and presents challenges for our island as a whole, not just the Twenty-six Counties of the Republic but also the North of Ireland. We need to be up for those challenges.

Brexit will only be a lose-lose situation for the UK. I do not know what legacy will be left by the politicians who have tried to get the UK out of Europe. We have to look at the most vulnerable people who are exposed because of Brexit and ensure we protect those industries and the employment within them. I wanted to make another point about social welfare that is in the Bill but I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the Bill tonight.

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