Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his statement. While I do not wish to go over what has already been said, regardless of the outcome of the internal market Bill, and whether it is passed or not, the whole process involved has demonstrated very clearly to us what we would have already known, which is that we cannot trust the British. It should put us on a whole different level because, while east-west relationships are crucial, we have learned we cannot trust the British establishment.

I commend the Minister for the stance he has taken. I watched his appearances on the Andrew Marr programme and other programmes, where he was very forthright in dealing with this and letting them know exactly how we felt about it. I also want to commend US Congressman Richard Neal, chairman of the ways and means committee, whose input has been crucial in all of this, as has that of Congressman Brendan Boyle and House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. The Taoiseach's attitude on Irish unity is a mistake, with him not even able to mention a united Ireland in his contributions. We need to learn from Scotland and how it is looking towards Scottish independence, and Wales as well. There has never been more need for us to progress a united Ireland and unity across our island. We should constantly remind the British of that and what they have done in terms of the break-up of their precious union.

I welcome the Minister's intention to provide supports for business. I speak to businesses every day of the week which are very fearful of the impact on them. This support will need to be in the form of direct aid and simply providing advice through the local employment offices and other agencies will not be sufficient to do the job we need done. The CAP negotiations are crucial in terms of the deal we get for farmers and agri-industry and the investment in key infrastructure projects is urgent and necessary. We spoke earlier about Knock Airport and the western rail corridor. These are the things that are going to sustain us. We cannot look at Brexit in isolation and we have to look at it in terms of the long-term investment in infrastructure projects. I welcome the Minister's highlighting of the reciprocal arrangements on education because the issue of third level exchange students travelling between North and South and between Ireland and Britain is extremely important.

I ask the Minister to work with us. We commend our MEPs and others who, right from the beginning of Brexit, have sought to get support from member states and to get them to recognise the vulnerability of our island to Brexit and what the British might do, particularly in the case of a hard Brexit. I ask the Minister to work with us and we will work constructively with him. We have to put the Irish nation and businesses front and centre of all of this. We will certainly hold him to account on what he has said but we will work with him in every way we can. We need unity across this island.

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