Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

3 o’clock

I too am glad to be able to speak here today. I am really quite sad. The Minister and I have spoken about this several times. Indeed, I attended a number of briefings with him and the then Taoiseach throughout 2019 and earlier. I know the Minister has put endless hours, including hours of debate, into this matter. It is a massive blow to our economy, our agriculture and fisheries sectors and trade more broadly. Shortly before Christmas, Deputy Verona Murphy, who was formerly involved in the road haulage business, and I raised the issues facing us. It was like it was getting dark towards nightfall. The Ministers and their officials told us blatantly that everything would be hunky-dory, that everything was in order and that everything that needed to be in place was in place. Sadly, very little was in place.

I heard a lady from Revenue the other morning giving out about how the hauliers did not have all their paperwork in order. Hauliers, and all other businesses, are snowed under with paperwork. I believe that the issue of paperwork and bureaucracy was one of the main reasons the British disengaged from the EU. Our mandarins here are exemplary at putting more paperwork, rules and regulations on top of all of that. We do not have access ports and we have not thought of new initiatives and ways to get our goods to the UK. We were all informed by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and others that everything was going to be hunky-dory. Officials told us that. Is there any accountability for the officials who told us that and let us believe it? They put their heads in a bag and decided everything was grand. A multiplicity of problems was staring us in the face.

The fishing industry was traded and sold out. It happened in 1973 when the Minister's late dad was in the Dáil - God rest him - and it has now happened again. It has been the sacrificial lamb and has been destroyed. Mr. Barnier, who was supposed to be the EU's trade commissioner, was looking after the French fishermen at the expense of the Irish fishermen. Deputy Michael Collins asked from where the percentage of the fishing quota being spoken about was to come. It was our fish that was being talked about. It was Irish people's fish and Irish people whose livelihoods in the fishing industry were to be decimated. It has happened as sure as night follows day and as sure as it gets dark and there is a morning after. We have such a bureaucratic system. What do we do? We allow one of our senior civil servants to take over the Department of Health and reward him with an extra €81,000 a year. It is time they were held accountable to the people and had to face them. They are not fit for purpose.

We had plenty of warning. The British people decided. The previous Deputy said that he was sorry and that they had made a mistake. They are sovereign. Unlike Ireland, where we were made vote twice for the Lisbon and Nice treaties, they respect democracy over there. They gave us plenty of warning but we did not heed it and we now have a mess to engage with. It is a pity that the UK has gone but its people decided to leave for very good reasons.

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