Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This morning, the Taoiseach made a statement on his understanding of the latest Brexit developments. He concluded by stating, "for the remains of the day we need to give MPs in Westminster the time and space to consider what is now on the table." That could never be acceptable. We have to be able to scrutinise and debate the new legal documents in order that the Government does not sleepwalk into agreeing a text that could be in any way problematic. That is our job. Just as the British Parliament does its job, we have to do ours. The Labour Party has concerns about the documents agreed last night by the EU and UK negotiators and about the interpretation of the new legal text by the British Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox. In my judgment, and the Tánaiste will agree, it is certain that we will not have a comprehensive trade agreement by the end of next year. Even by the maximum end date of the December 2022, it is quite likely that a future relationship agreement will not have been concluded and that, legally, the backstop will have to be triggered.

I have a number of questions for the Tánaiste about the legal certainty and the guarantees on which we want to be really clear regarding an open border. Does the Government acknowledge that the legal text would require the EU to entertain a range of proposals from the UK Government, including alternative arrangements to replace the backstop, or else face the possibility that the UK might unilaterally break the withdrawal agreement? We have gone through all of these technological issues in the past but now we have a legal basis for the British to act if we do not accept them. Does the Government agreed that the extent of the British Government's legal commitment to ensure an open border in Ireland is only to the extent that is required in the text of the Good Friday Agreement and not the spirit of the peace process nor the existing unfettered trade on the island of Ireland? Does the Government accept the legal text allows for the implementation of alternative arrangements to the backstop on a piecemeal basis? The Tánaiste has said it can be done bit by bit. This would have the unintended consequence of ultimately diluting the efficacy of the legal guarantee of an open border upon which we have relied? There is clear indication in the new documents that any new European law would not apply to the UK, including Northern Ireland.

Does the Government accept that if a new area of European law were to be created which had, for example, implications for the labelling of goods, the UK would be under no obligation to adopt that law? Does it accept that could ultimately have an unintended consequence of requiring border controls on the island of Ireland?

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