John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As a matter of record, my concerns and those of my party over the disparate allocations of resources from the EU Covid recovery fund are well established. With the dual challenges faced by our country through the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, Ireland merits consideration of a fairer allocation of funding than that envisaged at present. As things stand and as we are all aware, Ireland will contribute more to the fund than we will receive. When this is coupled with reports that the EU Brexit fund introduced to assist the worst-affected member states with the impact of Brexit is being coveted by EU leaders, ostensibly to compensate for the potential loss of fishing income in the event of a less than equitable deal on fishing but primarily as a means to influence domestic politics, we need to become much more assertive about our needs. The French President, Mr. Macron, stated on the fishing issue: "I'm not giving my piece of cake away." The Government needs to ensure we are not left waiting on the periphery once more, hoping to pick up the crumbs.

Notwithstanding concerns over the distribution of funds, I welcome the agreement between all EU member states on the EU budget and the multi-annual financial framework, albeit that this agreement was reached through the fudging of the need to deal with the serious concerns relating to the actions of the Hungarian and Polish Governments. In effect, whatever way we choose to proclaim it, the EU, as an institution, was held to ransom by the vetoes of both Hungary and Poland, both of whom are allies of Fine Gael in the European People's Party in the European Parliament. The failure to find the means to address this issue comes at an ongoing cost, namely, the continued erosion of the liberal values of the European Union by the Hungarian and Polish Parliaments. Just last Monday, the Hungarian family affairs Minister, Katalin Novák, posted a video on social media which claimed there is no need for a woman to have the same salary as a man. On Tuesday, the Hungarian Parliament approved a series of amendments to the Hungarian constitution that further erode the rights of the LGBT community there. We cannot allow the erosion of the liberal idea of Europe to be sacrificed for the sake of expediency.

I wish to make a few comments on the situation regarding Brexit. At this stage, until we learn otherwise, we must work with the proviso that we are facing into a no-deal Brexit. Warnings from Irish road haulage industry leaders indicate that the anticipated disruption and obstruction that will arise as a result of new customs and import controls at points of entry to Ireland in the aftermath of Brexit will have catastrophic consequences and will potentially bring the haulage industry to a standstill. Reports suggest we are facing into a period of unprecedented disruption for the movement of goods. Indeed, there have been calls for the immediate introduction of a single entity - a national traffic body - to provide the on-the-spot decision-making that will be required to deal with the potential chaos that may emerge.

With half of all goods leaving Dublin Port heading to Holyhead, reports of the lack of preparedness in Wales are very concerning. In the past week the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee has expressed huge concerns over the absolute lack of preparedness at Welsh ports. With barely two weeks to go until we reach the deadline, decisions are still awaited on the placement of inland border control facilities away from Holyhead, Fishguard and Pembroke. The British Government is sleepwalking towards the precipice of disaster and is dragging Ireland with it.

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