Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The reality is that Brexit represents a real and present danger to the Good Friday Agreement and all of the apparatus, infrastructure, human rights' standards, equality provisions, parity of esteem and the citizenship protections that go with it. That is the actual truth. There is another truth. The DUP has gone into hiding, into the embrace of Theresa May at Westminster, and they are in no frame of mind to re-establish the institutions. The Deputy may not like that but those are the current dynamics as we speak.

I shall now address the issue of direct rule. I have discussed this with Mrs. May and it has been made absolutely clear to her that direct rule is not an option, be it a hard Brexit, soft Brexit or any other form or variety of Brexit. I believe that Mrs. May understands and accepts that. There is a need for a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, BIIGC, which should happen very quickly. In part of the Taoiseach's contingency planning in the event of a hard Brexit, which none of us wishes to see, and in circumstances where there is a de factorepartitioning of Ireland and all of the politics that go with that, we need to understand that, in the interim, we would be looking at not so much direct rule as joint authority. What might that look like? Those provisions need to be made.

I agree with Deputy Micheál Martin that in the absence of a dynamic from the two Governments, who are equal co-guarantors of this agreement, it has proven incredibly difficult - in fact impossible - to get the kind of buy-in that we need from partners in unionism to resolve the outstanding equality issues, to sign up to power-sharing in all of its dimensions, and to get the show back on the road. The Deputy is correct in saying that. This has been a matter of very great frustration.

Has Mrs. May given any indication to the Taoiseach as to the roadmap or the timeframe in her head with regard to landing on an agreed Brexit position?

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