Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept what the Minister of State said that this is a technical necessity and just a continuation of the status quo. We all accept that it makes absolute sense that passenger name records information is maintained for a certain period. We all know that we need all the tools that are required to deal with international crime, which is utterly cross-border and, in some cases, technically more proficient than traditional states or even the likes of the European Union.

We have to get ourselves into the game.

It hardly comes as a shock that Brexit, the TCA and whatever else have thrown up many anomalies. People could nearly be persuaded to say that Brexit was not necessarily a great idea, but we are where we are. Obviously, we want continuity. What is envisaged when we get beyond this interim period is that PNR information will be maintained for 12 months rather than five years. The stipulation in this regard is laid down in the TCA between the European Union and the British Government. I am not sure that this is necessarily a great idea in the sense that when we are dealing with issues relating to international crime and multiple jurisdictions, it can be incredibly complicated and take a huge amount of time. In that context, information needs to be retained and databases need to be maintained. We know the difficulties and complications we have in dealing with the financial and banking sector. All of the complications in question meant that time is needed. Whether the outworkings of this are a good idea, I am not sure. However, this extension needs to be agreed here and now.

We are dealing with a British Government that is looking for this extension because it does not have its systems up to date to allow it to do what it said it would under the TCA. So be it, but it is very difficult to be dealing with this when the mood music is not great. I heard a commentator in the past while talk about the feeling in Government circles being that there is a 50-50 chance of Article 16 being triggered. Nobody believes it will be triggered before Christmas. That is the saving grace. Obviously, the behaviour of the British Government has been utterly ridiculous. I would like to say it has been out of character, but my view of British Governments over many years is that even when you think you have a deal, you do not and the British will go back and try to renegotiate parts of it. Someone who would have known far better than me about dealing with the British Government over many years had the idea that even if it is willing to go from point A to point B, it will take the most circuitous route possible, and that will give rise to a huge amount of pain for you rather than them. That is where we are.

Obviously, this also gives succour to certain elements of political unionism that are, let us be clear, probably in fear of the ongoing discussion in respect of Irish unity. A huge number of people who would have probably previously fallen into that bracket of being unionists are at least having a discussion. The thing for an awful lot of people is Irish unity is a means of staying within the European Union and not being allied or wedded to the union with Britain and the madness of dealing with this Tory Government or whatever other Government might be thrown up by the British electorate. That is where we are in respect of this matter.

We have had multiple statements and declarations by David Frost and Boris Johnson. You are not always sure what you are dealing with - whether it is an actual negotiation, a gambit or somebody who is just playing to the home crowd and who will eventually come up with a sensible solution. The fact is that you do not know. It provides a certain succour to a type of political unionism that does not want to deal with anything and that has got some way worked up about the sea border when the reality is that, from a business perspective, multiple studies and research work and any of our interactions or those of the Government with business, agriculture and various representatives show that there are definite benefits for the North of staying within the Single Market. Obviously, there are also benefits to remaining connected with the British market at the same time. There is an argument that political unionism could be cutting off its nose to spite its face.

the fact is that many others do see the benefits in this regard. Commissioner Šefčovič and the European Commission have tried to come up with solutions, whether in the form of the pledge of an 80% reduction in sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, checks or the possible 50% reduction in customs checks. All of this can be worked through. I get that there will still be multiple issues for a long time. That is the fact of Brexit. It is fair to say that the Irish protocol was put in place to be a mitigation and to protect conditions on the island of Ireland, where it is no way acceptable for there to be a return of a hard border. I live in Dundalk, not very far from the Border. We all know the history that goes with that and nobody can accept going backwards.

We will eventually see where the British Government stands, but the games it is playing are of no benefit to anybody. We have to engage robustly with it, on that basis. There is no choice. We always have to work from the point of view of maintaining dialogue and attempting to get the best result. The best result would be that these Frost-Šefčovič talks come up with a solution and that there will be no further threats and, certainly, no triggering of Article 16 or anything else beyond that. That solution will provide huge benefits for businesses, those in agriculture and others in the North.

We will also have to deal with the issue of the democratic deficit in the context of the North having to operate under European rules, without having representation. However, there are multiple methods of doing so, whether it is observer status, certain groupings operating within the European Union and ensuring there is engagement, especially at an Executive and assembly level. We need to make sure that all of this happens. It is absolutely necessary. I get that the mood music is not especially great and we have ongoing threats, such as those from political unionism. The latter is probably down to the fact that it is under severe pressure, electorally, both to the left and to the right. It thinks it can play the trick it has always played of wrapping the Union Jack around it and calling people out onto the streets. That may work to some degree at election time, but it is certainly not working at present. It is also not beneficial to a huge number of people. We want to see definite solutions.

We also need to look at our solutions here. I will put it quite clearly. We are 100 years on from the treaty. In historical terms, it was a failure of the republican movement at that time not to have a cohesive organisation and leadership or a well-enough worked out strategy to deal with the treaty negotiations. It was a lost opportunity that ended in many tragedies, one of the biggest being partition. We have all had to deal with the outworkings of that.

Until we finish that connection with Britain and with British Governments, we will still have to deal with this madness. I welcome what has happened, particularly a number of the moves in respect of the shared island unit, whether those be cross-Border infrastructural projects such as that relating to the Narrow Water bridge and the commitments in respect of them, the studies, reports and modelling being considered in the context of the North and the South and how Departments work, educational attainment, economies or whatever other issues we are dealing with or the shared island dialogue being expanded properly. Those who will be offended are going to be offended. We need a citizens' assembly. We need to have a full conversation with everyone who is willing to have that conversation. Irish unity is coming, and it will be an absolute disaster if we do not plan for it.

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