Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In my previous life not so long ago, although it seems like an awfully long time, I was in the European Parliament where the issue of Brexit and the concerns around a no-deal Brexit took up significant amount of our time and deliberations. During all those debates, I could not think of a worse prospect for our country than a no-deal Brexit scenario. Little could I have imagined that we could be faced with the prospect of a no-deal Brexit scenario coupled with a global pandemic but that is the reality that is facing us, head on.

A number of issues struck me in my conversations with many European colleagues in the European Parliament, in various embassies and within the European institutions throughout the Brexit talks process. One was their disbelief at the often duplicitous nature of the British stance in negotiations. They would tell me of their astonishment at situations where British ministers entered a room and negotiated a position but immediately on walking outside would start to unravel what they had just agreed. That was a source of astonishment but I consistently reminded them that nobody in my constituency would have been one bit surprised that the British Government would try to renege on agreements. Indeed, very few people in my constituency would be surprised that the British Government is intent on breaching international law. What we would all be surprised at, however, my European colleagues included, is that a British Minister would stand up in the House of Commons and acknowledge that it is the intention of the government to breach international law.

We need to stand firm because cannot rely on the British Government to protect Irish interests, stand up for the Good Friday Agreement or protect the objectives of the Irish protocol. My main concern with the Minister's statement is that it is predicated on a belief that the British Government is going to adhere to the withdrawal agreement even in the event of a no-deal Brexit. I have a real concern that in that scenario; the British will not do so. That creates huge challenges because then the responsibility lies with the Irish Government and the European Union to determine what we do with that thing that we call the Border in our country which, from my perspective, is far too hard already.

The second thing that struck me when talking to my European colleagues was that they were always willing and eager to talk about the issue of the reunification of our country in the context of Brexit because they saw it as a logical mitigation of the worst excesses of Brexit. A number of them said that among their number, the people most resistant to even having that conversation were Irish Government officials. That conversation needs to be had. If we are in a situation where it is a choice between putting in place barriers between my county and our neighbours in counties Fermanagh, Armagh or Tyrone or having a conversation about how we can make this country a better and fairer place, a united Ireland for all of our citizens, then we have to go with the latter. We have to have that conversation and the Government needs to step up to the plate.

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