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

The Trump-like buffoonery and recklessness of Boris Johnson have been fairly evident to most people in this House and country for some time. If there is something of a silver lining to the grim public health emergency and pandemic that we face, it is that the buffoonery and recklessness on Johnson's part has been further revealed. For most people, Brexit and everything else are being seen largely through the prism of this unprecedented Covid-19 emergency. The buffoonery and recklessness on his part have undoubtedly contributed to a worse situation developing, tragically, for many British people through his slowness and reluctance to impose public health measures and his dismissal in the initial stages of the seriousness of the pandemic. I hope that both in Britain and in the United States the sort of recklessness and buffoonery that Trump and Johnson represent has been exposed in the eyes of more and more people. I hope and believe that is also true in the North and elsewhere. Given the sort of recklessness they have displayed, which is continuing with Johnson essentially raising the spectre of a crash-out Brexit with the disastrous consequences that would have, North and South on this island, it seems to me that we must use this opportunity to show ourselves to be so much better than the recklessness and buffoonery that Johnson's politics represent. If the possibility of a crash-out Brexit emerges because of his attitudes and policies and his plans for a race to the bottom, we must make the case to people in the North in particular for a break and move towards a united Ireland. The case, for example, for an all-Ireland response to Covid-19 is very apparent to people North and South. That is something that has been resisted by Johnson and some in the Northern political system. It is very apparent to large numbers of people North and South, regardless of their community background, that it makes sense to have an all-Ireland response to a public health emergency, but it also makes sense to have an all-Ireland response to the threat of a no-deal Brexit.

If we are to make that case and talk about the possibility of uniting the North and South of this island, we must show ourselves to be better than Boris Johnson in every single regard. Notwithstanding differences of opinion and emphasis, there is no doubt that the response by this State to the public health emergency has been better than that of Boris Johnson, but we must continue to be better in everything. It is blatantly obvious that if we are going to make the case to people in the North that we should unite this island, we must at a minimum have an all-Ireland national health service which is properly resourced, with the necessary capacity, where we treat our health workers properly and well. People in the North will not be attracted to a united Ireland if it involves a two-tier under-resourced, under-capacity health service. One thing that we could and should do now is indicate our determination to move immediately to a proper national health service, something that has become apparent in the response to Covid-19. A united Ireland where the State runs a proper national health service on all parts of this island is something that could win over people in the North who might retain allegiance to the UK.

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