John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is very apparent that several major obstacles remain as the EU negotiating team attempts to bring the British to an agreement on Brexit. It appears that Tory attitudes and outlooks have retreated into an echo chamber where Boris Johnson and his cronies feast on their own toxicity. While I understand that many of the EU negotiators have been shocked by the perfidious actions of the British, no depth of British mendacity comes as a surprise to us here in Ireland. It is apparent to all that the British position is designed to discard two generations of social progress and protections brought about through EU membership. Through the potential deregulation of the economy and the creation of their set of rules around competitive advantage, the British can position themselves to reap unfair business and trading advantages over EU member states through unfettered and unencumbered access to EU markets without cost or responsibility.

Indeed, the term "level playing field" is enough to invoke a Tory to make a sign to ward off an evil eye, such is the anathema among Johnson's Tories for values, fair play and decency.

We are now looking at a scenario where the Tories are looking to introduce the equivalent of a windrush 2.0 scheme designed to target EU and EEA citizens. Under this EU settlement status scheme, EU citizens will have to pay a fee of £65 and register an application to stay in Britain with authorities before 30 June 2021. Under this scheme, by the end of August this year, just under 11,000 EU citizens were refused the right to stay in Britain. This shameful Tory attitude to EU citizens has both business and human rights implications. Many EU citizens who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic are being refused universal credit. A Danish woman with breast cancer was challenged to prove that she had the right to be treated by the NHS. The list goes on.

This has the potential to seriously impact cross-Border workers and businesses here in Ireland. Businesses on both sides of the Border are often reliant on the expertise of citizens from other EU states and beyond. That includes everything from IT specialists, diesel mechanics to general operatives. We are conceivably looking at a situation where swathes of cross-Border workers may well be deported by the Tories leading to serious difficulties for businesses along the Border.

At this moment, Covid-19 infection rates in the North are several times greater than here in the South. A total of 828 cases were confirmed in the North today. That has directly led to Donegal having the highest level of infection here in the South. To arrest the rate of infection, political leaders in the North want to introduce what has been termed a circuit breaker, a temporary lockdown, but unfortunately they are powerless to do so. The Assembly in the North is left dependent on a heartless Tory Government for the funding necessary to save Irish lives.

This is a snapshot of the problems that lie ahead for both the North and for businesses and politicians in the South. Under the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill, the Tories will have the right to impose legislation to destroy workers' rights to allow access to Irish markets of inferior food produce, whatever the protestations of local politicians. We must remember that only yesterday the Central Bank warned that a no-deal Brexit could result in the loss of 75% of food trade with Britain.

We are heading towards what is becoming the warmest year on record, yet the Tories have signalled an attempt to disavow environmental legislation at a time when our discourse on the issue is centred on how we may reconfigure our economy to become more environmentally friendly. This afternoon, the Taoiseach described the environment as an essential pillar of our economic recovery. Our inability to develop an all-island approach undermines all plans in this area.

Ireland now has what can be described as a two-speed economy, which the Central Bank argues will recover at an uneven rate and remain vulnerable to the impact of a no-deal Brexit, which could potentially lead to the loss of more than 100,000 jobs. Our continued capacity to withstand the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the nation's economy is primarily due to the strength of our exports. With the domestic service economy under increasing pressure, with unprecedented job losses and unemployment now in the region of 15%, we are now even more dependent on exports. Conversely, it is the export sector which is at most risk from Brexit.

The Government needs to ensure the impending budget, which has been bolstered by better tax revenues than was initially anticipated, provides adequate supports for Irish business on several levels: first, to survive the onslaught of the pandemic; and, second, to provide businesses with supports to survive a no-deal Brexit. We need business stimulus measures. We need to see the export sector protected by Government action.

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