Dáil debates

Wednesday, 11 December 2019

Pre-European Council Meeting: Statements

 

3:15 pm

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It is disappointing that neither the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, nor the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy McEntee, are here to respond to the debate. I imagine they have good reason for not being here but it is important that those of us on this side of the House have an opportunity to get answers to our legitimate questions on the Brexit agreement. My view is that on the occasion of these statements on the European Council, where clearly Brexit will be a significant issue, we should have had the opportunity to get responses from the relevant Ministers. Unfortunately, it does not seem as if that will be the case. I will ask my questions nonetheless.

These are essentially the same questions that I raised in October, when we had statements on the Brexit agreement. I made the point at that stage that in the months leading up to the agreement, those of us who are party leaders on this side of the House were facilitated very well by the Tánaiste and his officials. They kept us briefed on all the developments in respect of a Brexit agreement. However, on the occasion an agreement was reached no briefing at all was provided of any consequence to Opposition leaders. Since then, there has been no contact at all from the Tánaiste's office. That is really problematic because there are many big questions that are still hanging unanswered relating to the implications of the Brexit agreement for Ireland.

In the two-year lead up to the Brexit agreement, from Ireland's point of view the whole emphasis was on the importance of the backstop. As many people said on many occasions, there was that circle to be squared. How could we have a situation where Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were not aligned? This would arise because the North would no longer be a member of the EU under Brexit. Obviously, the whole question of the integrity of the Single Market was critical. We were briefed on this on an ongoing basis. It was unthinkable that we would have any border checks on the Border between the North and the Republic because of all the implications for trade and especially the Good Friday Agreement and peace. The backstop was the insurance policy.

We were also briefed on a regular basis by the Tánaiste. He told us about the critical importance of retaining or ensuring the integrity of the Single Market. That was the justification for the backstop. Yet, when it came to the 11th hour of the negotiations the backstop was dropped fairly quickly by the Government without an explanation of how Ireland's interests could be protected in its absence. We still do not know how that will be achieved. We are still left with a situation where there is a circle to be squared. How do we ensure that the kinds of standards and safeguards that exist in the Single Market will be upheld in Ireland if there is an open border between North and South? This key question was glossed over when the agreement was announced. Suddenly, after two years of saying the backstop was critical, the backstop was dropped and has not been replaced with anything that gives any kind of assurance whatsoever or any confidence that our trade will not be affected by this Brexit deal.

We were told that an arrangement would be put in place with a special committee to be set up that would oversee the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. No one could explain how those special arrangements would work. We see particular arrangements in all manner of circumstances around the world between two states where there is a border that needs to be policed. In such circumstances, there is a border between two different authorities. However, the border that Brexit refers to is a border in the Irish Sea. The authorities on both sides are UK authorities. Where is the incentive or independent oversight to ensure that proper checks are in place? In the absence of those checks one has to ask: in what way will potentially inferior goods produced to inferior standards coming in to Great Britain and moving to Northern Ireland be managed? How can we be assured that those inferior goods, in terms of quality and safety standards and so on, will not come into the Republic of Ireland?

Throughout the negotiations and over the past couple of years the Tánaiste raised this issue on an ongoing basis. He referred on one occasion to the fact that several other EU states had warned that unless arrangements were put in place to secure the borders of the Single Market, then confidence in Irish products and trade would be impacted, with a resultant loss of demand or interest in other states trading with Ireland. Presumably, those concerns of other member states still stand. In the absence of explanations from the Government on how these arrangements will work I wonder whether Ireland's interests have been sacrificed in the rush to do this deal with the United Kingdom. I do not say this lightly but I am raising questions about how we are going to protect the integrity of the Single Market under the Brexit deal.

I raised the issue with the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy McEntee. She was unable to answer. She said that those details would be worked out. I asked who would be carrying out the checks. She did not know. I asked where the checks would be done. She did not know.

This is why it is difficult to have confidence that Ireland is doing okay out of the Brexit agreement. All of the focus around the time the agreement was done was that finally, after two or three years, an agreement was reached. Then, the focus was on whether the deal would get through the House of Commons. Then, the question was how the DUP would respond. Despite all of the clatter around all of those big issues, at no point did the Government address the issue of whether the Brexit agreement is actually helpful to Ireland's interests. Does it protect our interests as a member of the EU? That question remains.

We know that in recent days the UK Prime Minister, Mr. Johnson, was obviously being economical with the truth yet again in terms of checks.

He denied that there would be any checks required for goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and he was quickly pulled up on that by Mr. Jeremy Corbyn MP, when Mr. Corbyn produced documents from the UK Treasury which point out that checks would be needed in some cases. Indeed, when that question was put to the Tánaiste on Monday, he stated, "Goods coming from Great Britain into Northern Ireland will need to have some checks to ensure that the EU knows what is potentially coming into their market through Northern Ireland." This is a critical point. How do we have a system of checks for goods coming from Great Britain to Northern Ireland which can then move freely into the Republic of Ireland? The point is it is very much in Ireland's interests that we are seen to have a tight border in relation to the Single Market. It is in our interests in terms of ensuring confidence is maintained in Irish goods and yet nobody in government can explain how this critical issue will be dealt with. I do not know whether the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, has answers today. I was hoping that the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, or the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, would provide clarity in relation to that. We are still left in the extraordinary situation where neither we nor anybody in government has a clue about how the Brexit agreement will operate in terms of safeguarding the integrity of our trade and the goods that we trade. That is a dangerous situation to be in.

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