Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time. We are now well and truly at crunch time in respect of the Brexit negotiations. What happens in the next days and weeks will have a profound impact on the island of Ireland economically, socially and politically.

On Thursday and Friday of last week, the European Council met to discuss, among other things, the status of the talks with the British Government as we fast approach the deadline for a workable, fair and, as the Taoiseach says, balanced deal. While we know there is no good Brexit for the island of Ireland, we are also acutely aware that a crash or no-deal Brexit would be the worst-case scenario. Unfortunately, the game-playing on the part of the Tory Government and Boris Johnson over the last number of weeks has disrupted talks and undermined the prospect of that deal. Central to this game-playing has been the British Government's use of Ireland’s future as a bargaining chip with EU negotiators in an attempt to get a favourable trade agreement. The Tories' use of the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill, which, by their own proclamation, breaks international law, is a clear attack on the vital protections afforded to Ireland and, let it be remembered, agreed to by Mr. Johnson's Government as part of the withdrawal agreement which came into force on 1 February of this year.

The approach and behaviour of the British Government have understandably eroded trust and confidence in its willingness to stick to its words and honour its agreements. This causes an obvious problem in progressing talks in a constructive manner. It is the main reason we have arrived at what increasingly feels like a crisis point. It is right that EU leaders have placed the onus on the British Government to unblock negotiations and make moves that will re-establish good faith. Mr. Johnson, as we saw, responded with more game-playing and grandstanding by taking to the megaphone once again and declaring that Britain would prepare for a crash outcome. I think he described it as the Australian deal. This coincided with Britain’s chief negotiator, David Frost, withdrawing the invitation to Michel Barnier for further negotiations in London on Monday.

In my view, that move was aggressive, unnecessary and unhelpful, to say the least. It seems that Mr. Johnson sticks to the mantra that it will either be his way or no way at all. That is not the attitude of a Prime Minister who is serious about reaching a trade agreement that is fair, sensible and balanced, not only for Ireland and the EU but also for the British economy. A crash Brexit and the imposition of World Trade Organization rules would not be a good outcome for anyone. I was therefore interested to hear the Taoiseach say that the Commission has been asked to prepare unilateral responses in the context of a no-deal scenario. He said that is of particular interest to Ireland and I wonder if he will elaborate on that and set out what these unilateral actions are and how they might be favourable to Ireland.

I hope that the discussions that took place by phone yesterday between British and EU negotiators might act as a catalyst for a more considered approach. Hopefully, we will see the resumption of full negotiations later this week and, as I said previously, there is still time for the British Government to pull back from the brink, engage in good faith at this crucial time and respect international law and agreements into which it has entered. The primary responsibility of the Irish Government at this juncture is to make it clear to Mr. Johnson that continuing to play a game of chicken using Ireland's protections and Irish interests is absolutely unacceptable. It is, to my mind, abhorrent to dangle our all-island economy, the Good Friday Agreement, our peace and our peace process over a cliff edge in the hope that the EU will blink. That approach will not work. The days of British Governments bullying Ireland or anyone else into accepting their terms and demands are over, gone and are not coming back. What needs to be reiterated at every opportunity by the Irish Government is that, regardless of the outcome of trade talks, it is absolutely essential that the withdrawal agreement is honoured and implemented. While the agreement is far from perfect and does not solve all of our problems, the measures contained in the Ireland and Northern Ireland protocol are the bare minimum required to protect Ireland. They are our safety net and insurance policy against a hardened land border. They provide protections for the Good Friday Agreement, our all-island economy and co-operation, North to South. They cannot be compromised, diluted or bartered away because there is far too much at stake.

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