Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In my discussions with the First Minister and the deputy First Minister on the internal market Bill, my objective is to protect the interests of the citizens of this island in the context of the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union. Notwithstanding if somebody was pro-Brexit or pro-remain, everyone shares a pragmatic view that the least damage possible should be done to workers, employers, the economy and the social fabric of this island as a result of Brexit. The ultimate deal between the UK and the European Union does matter in terms of the well-being of people for the long-term on this island. That is what informs my response.

It has informed my response to the unacceptable behaviour of the British Government in coming forward with the internal market Bill and notwithstanding its new-found alleged concerns about aspects of the Northern Ireland protocol and withdrawal agreement, which I do not accept. Those concerns could easily have been resolved in the context of the joint committee set up especially between the EU and UK to deal with the practicalities of working out the Northern Ireland protocol. Some progress had been made on that already in terms of facilities and funding provided for customs and facilities in the North in terms of declarations, SPS, sanitary and phytosanitary, and all of that.

The European Union is very clear that it does not want to fall into any preordained strategy or react in a knee-jerk way. It will remain firm on the fundamentals, however. The joint committee met and there has been engagement between the European Union and the United Kingdom on this issue. It has not been resolved, however. I made it very clear to the British Prime Minister, as has the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, to his counterpart, on the Irish Government's position on this. While the British Government's response is contradictory to the reality of the Bill, it is adamant it does not want to affect, in any shape or form, the seamless interaction of goods and services North and South. It does not want to create any situation that would erect any barriers on that front. On the broad thrust of the withdrawal agreement, it is still asserting that it is committed to its implementation.

There is a distance to go yet. It really boils down to a will on behalf of the British Government as to whether it wants to do a deal or not. The European Union will do a deal but it has to be a fair one, based on resolving the state-aid issue, which could be resolved, governance structures around any future trade agreement and ensuring adherence to commitments. Obviously, the decision of the British Government to introduce this Bill has eroded trust with those it is negotiating with, including ourselves.

The First Minister and deputy First Minister are aware of the implications of all this for the North and the island as a whole. I have always been of the view that we should engage with the reality of what is before us. People voted for Brexit. We are not going to undo Brexit in the short term. Our objective is to protect the livelihoods of people on this island. That is what we will do in the next budget, based on a no-deal Brexit. We hope that is proven wrong. We are telling businesses to prepare for a no-deal Brexit and in any event to prepare for customs and the need for declarations, even if we have a basic free trade agreement without tariffs or quotas.

I have appraised them of the principles behind the shared island unit. There was a good series of articles recently in The Irish Timesaround the whole theme. The unit has been established and we are beefing it up with new people being recruited and deployed. It will be involved in a number of different strands of work. Some will be commissioning research and some will be outreaching and engaging in dialogue with different perspectives and people from different backgrounds, irrespective of their views on constitutional or political issues, to see how we can share this island in a better and more effective way across many fronts into the future. There is rich potential for us to do that.

I have no difficulty with meeting with Deputy Boyd Barrett's MLA to get his perspectives. I accept the Deputy's long-standing commitment to a non-sectarian view of how the island should develop.

Our education system is evolving too. There is far greater State involvement in our education system now than there would have been historically. Religious orders did play a significant role historically in the evolution and development of our education system and continue to do so. It was a Fianna Fáil Minister, the late Paddy Hillery, who brought in comprehensible and community schools. Mary Hanafin brought in the State primary school system through the VECs.

I take the Deputy's point that some service providers have capacity issues both in education and health. I favour a stronger State input in health, social services and education. That said, we have pluralist system in education where we have different patrons, the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland and other denominations, as well as Educate Together and Gaelscoileanna. Our view has been to facilitate different patrons to set up schools and give choice to parents insofar as is practical in given locations.

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