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

I am sharing time with Deputy Brady. There is less than a month to go to the end of the Brexit transition period. We heard the news from Europe this morning that Tory intransigence, particularly with regard to its dangerous Internal Market Bill, has brought negotiations to a cliff edge. Serious difficulties remain and the window to have any agreement ratified before the end of the year is now closing fast. The key areas of divergence, namely, fisheries, a level playing field and governance, are extremely important to ensuring that Ireland's interests are protected.

The British negotiating team insists that all fish in British waters are British fish, regardless of species, spawning grounds, migratory patterns and historical access. It also wants annual negotiations on quotas. The EU has accepted that there will be a big change from British membership of the Common Fisheries Policy. However, it is rightly looking for a sustainable, longer-term agreement that protects EU fisheries.

The intransigence of the British Government has left the Irish fishing industry facing an incredible level of uncertainty. Some 34% of the annual catch of the Irish fishing fleet is taken from what are British waters under the Common Fisheries Policy. That is the scale of the threat to the industry from these negotiations. It is an industry worth hundreds of millions of euro and one that employs more than 16,000 people. Ideally, Irish fishers should retain the access to British waters that they enjoyed even before both countries joined the EU. However, any loss to that catch will require a renegotiation of how the Common Fisheries Policy is applied to Irish waters. This is an opportunity for the EU to look at the lack of fairness that exists for fishers, particularly here in Ireland.

Equally, the issue of the level playing field demonstrates just how important it is that we defend our hard-won protections under the Irish protocol. The protocol places the North under EU law regarding state aid and protects against slippage from EU trading standards. The attempt to undermine these protections through the Internal Market Bill shows that the focus of the Tory Government is a low-wage, low-tax, deregulated economy. Its failure to ensure sufficient oversight and scrutiny of labour standards, public health, environment, animal welfare and consumer protection is a major problem. In particular, divergence in food standards between Britain and the EU will put a strain on the functioning of the Irish protocol. The race to the bottom by the Tory Government will mean that the EU is much less likely to accept goods coming from Britain into Ireland, North or South, without rigorous checks. This, in turn, will create difficulties for industry and commerce across the island, but especially for the North. The Tories want a cheap competitive advantage at the expense of ordinary workers. I do not believe we can tolerate the undermining of the Good Friday Agreement by the Tories or their attempt to run roughshod over workers' rights and labour standards.

Regardless of the outcome of these negotiations, it is essential that the Irish protocol is honoured and implemented because it is our insurance policy against a land border. It protects the Good Friday Agreement, the all-Ireland economy and co-operation between North and South. As pressure now increases, there can be no blinking on the part of the EU negotiating team or by the Irish Government when it comes to the Irish protocol. A deal is absolutely better than a no-deal Brexit for Ireland, but we must remember that any deal, let alone a hard Brexit free-trade agreement, will be hazardous for Ireland. We must continue to ensure that a final agreement defends the interest of all the people of Ireland.

Ultimately, it is the reunification of Ireland that is the best solution to the Border and to the Brexit question. It is also the very best idea for the future of our island. As I have said before, the time is now to begin planning to realise the benefits of reunification. Much more is required beyond the ambitions of the Taoiseach's shared island unit. We now need an agreed forum, a citizens' assembly, to ensure that the practical discussion and preparation for reunification can begin. There is no excuse for anyone, much less political leaders, to stick their heads in the sand. The conversation on unity is for everybody and it is now time to progress that conversation.

See this speech in context