Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is very dangerous growth of that type of politics all across Europe, including within the European Union, and we cannot lay the blame for it on Britain. It is a failing of politics generally in the western world. We have also seen it in the United States. While we have to deal with a very immediate problem and the consequences of Brexit, we should not imagine, whether it resolves itself for the better or worse, that the threat posed by dangerous xenophobic right-wing nationalist politics is going to go away. It is not. It is a serious threat and we need to think about from where it is coming. We must ask what has failed in politics that has led to that type of politics in the first place. I welcome the decision I believe Fine Gael has made to call for Mr. Orbán to be expelled from the European People's Party. We have been advocating this for quite some time. Beyond that, this type of politics is very dangerous and we need to think about from where it is coming. It is not good enough just to condemn it; we also have to ask to what problems is it giving rise.

I do not understand why a couple of things are not being done in the Bill. I do not see why we would not deal with the issue of UK driving licences being accepted here. That was the subject of one of our amendments which were ruled out of order.

I think most Members of this House would say they were in favour of a united Ireland, although they would differ on how we would achieve it and when. We are in favour of a Border poll. It is possible to make a purely democratic argument for it, given the possibility that there could be a hard border and how it could change minds. However, it is our view that we will never achieve a united Ireland through a sectarian head count. That is the kind of politics that leads people into entrenchment. Where we can win is by putting forward our common interests, the things that unite people and undercut sectarian division. That is why, in the aftermath of the overwhelming popular power in favour of repeal which was a youth and women-led movement and which, like the movement in favour of marriage equality, has spilt massively into the North, we have proposed that there be a new basis to unite people across the sectarian divisions in the North and the South and elsewhere. Lots of young people from the North came here to canvass for repeal. After the referendum, lots of people from the South were in the North to march for a woman's right to choose. That is why we said it would have been a good idea for the Government to make provision in the Bill or state elsewhere that abortion services provided free in the South would also be provided free for everybody in the North. That would have been a massive gesture in showing real solidarity that could begin to lay the ground for unity. That is part of the bigger political debate on the future of politics on the island.

I welcome the passage of the Bill, but the big questions remain unresolved. It is critical that we say to Britain, the European Union, the World Trade Organisation and anybody else that a hard border will not be tolerated because peace on this island is far too important.

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