John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Now that the reality of Brexit is here we are left to deal with its wide-reaching implications, especially in the areas of trade and fisheries. Politically, the advent of Brexit, with its accompanying unleashing of English nationalism, has made the future of the British union one of the central political issues for the next decade. The unification of Ireland is now an urgent political issue that cannot be ignored. Workers and families in the North of this island will face the full impact of Boris's assault on workers' rights, food safety, the environment and human rights. Respect for human rights is an essential critical element of the Good Friday Agreement. Yet Boris Johnson has succeeded in weaponising human rights as something unpatriotic and some form of insidious foreign weapon to be used against the British people by the EU.

Since July 2019, more than 1 million foreign nationals have taken the decision to leave Britain, with 700,000 from London alone, primarily due to Brexit. Many cite the emerging xenophobia, misplaced British exceptionalism and shortcomings in British democratic structures as their reasons to leave. Recently, British journalists spoke recently of their fears about anti-European sentiment fuelled by English nationalism turning violent in the time ahead. There are also strong rumours emerging from within Whitehall that the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has tasked Home Office mandarins with producing a scoping document to look at the reintroduction of the death penalty in Britain. These reports have yet to be confirmed but they emerge amid a political miasma that has witnessed a complete regression of normative political discourse. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, recently stated the North is heading for the exit door of the United Kingdom, slowly inching towards a united Ireland. The future prosperity of the people of the North of Ireland is now dependent on its relationship with the South and Europe.

The Tánaiste has said the priority of the Irish Government in its approach to Brexit was to protect citizens' rights north and south of the Border. I put it to the Government that the only meaningful way the rights of the citizens of the North can be protected from a Boris Johnson Government assault on the rights of ordinary people is through unification. If there is one clear message that arises from the experience of Brexit and Covid, it is that we must begin the process of planning for constitutional change on this island. We must ensure the process of planning is all-inclusive, that it provides for input from all shades of opinion and outlooks on the island and that it is an all-island approach. It must begin by putting in place the appropriate infrastructure to support an all-Ireland economy. Nothing could be clearer than that the future of the shared experience of the peoples of this island lies in the reunification of Ireland.

I have a number of questions I want to put to the Minister. There are emerging rumours that the DUP is putting out 24 November this year as being the date it will review the current arrangements that allow the North to remain in the EU customs region. There is a real danger this will create the sense of a mini-Brexit scenario, reintroducing the levels of uncertainty we witnessed before Christmas. What will the Government do to prevent this from happening?

The way we work is undergoing a huge transformation, driven by Brexit and Covid-19. As we put in place plans to address this transformation, does it not make sense to ensure a future model will be an all-Ireland model? Are there plans to look at the development of all-island supply chains? Will the Government consider the establishment of a body to look at an all-island strategic approach to economic planning?

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