Seanad debates

Wednesday, 22 June 2016

10:30 am

Photo of Robbie GallagherRobbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Seanad for this important debate. People in Britain will make a crucial decision tomorrow. While the decision is for Britain to decide, Ireland is in a unique position heading into this week's vote as it is the only country in the European Union that shares a land border with the United Kingdom.

Britain is our nearest neighbour and largest trading partner. Reports have warned of the repercussions for Ireland across several sectors including the trade, travel, tourism, energy and agrifood sectors. Although a Brexit will affect us all, our Border counties will be most exposed to the effects of that vote if Britain decides to leave. The 310-mile frontier that separates Northern Ireland and the Republic is the only land border between the UK and the rest of the EU. Although heavily militarised with checkpoints and road closures during the Troubles, peace has opened up a seamless crossing between both jurisdictions.

Young people today do not recall the Border checkpoints and customs hold-ups that we had to endure in the past. If one crosses the Border now there is little to alert one of such; it is seamless. One might notice a red post box, a subtle change in the road surface, miles instead of kilometres on road signs or the disappearance of bilingual signs, but that is all.

Thousands of people pass over the Border every day on their way to work, for shopping or on day trips. If one visits a school along the Border one will find children with parents, grandparents or other family members from across the Border, but it is not just families. Farms, businesses and property straddle the Border as well. Thousands of people from our Border counties work across the Border and vice versa. People in Border counties like Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth are waiting anxiously to see the outcome of the Brexit referendum.

The "Remain" camp in the referendum, including Chancellor George Osborne, have warned that a hardening of border controls would be inevitable in the event of the UK voting to leave the EU. Given that migration has been an important factor driving the "Leave" campaign, the British Government could come under pressure to impose Border checks to prevent Ireland becoming an access point for undocumented migrants.

The British Chancellor has warned that a vote to leave the European Union would cause an economic shock in the North, forcing the return of Border checkpoints, slashing farmers' incomes and costing the region £1.3 billion. Some time ago he stated, "Let's be clear, if we quit the EU then this is going to be the border with the European Union ... ie new immigration checkpoints, border controls and an end to free movement - that has a real consequence, and there would have to be a real hardening of the border imposed either by the British government or indeed by the Irish government."

For the first time in a generation, Border controls and customs checkpoints between Northern Ireland and the Republic have become a distinct possibility. We remember the hassle, the nuisance and the cost, the queues of trucks and the overnight waiting. We are not looking forward to a return to that.

A Brexit would be an obstacle to the cross-Border economic co-operation that is profoundly benefiting both states on this island. It would also damage trade and investment North and South.

The reality is that those campaigning for a Brexit are asking people in Northern Ireland to swap the benefits of membership of a Single Market with 500 million people for an uncertain future, where free trade will be curtailed and where new tariffs will undermine the competitiveness of Northern Irish exports.

Locals in the Border area fear that such factors and the reinstatement of checkpoints would be a deterrent to trade and travel. We know from experience that there will be knock-on effects.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, who is campaigning on the "Leave" side, claims that, in the event of a Brexit, the Border would remain as "free-flowing" as it is today. Ireland and Britain had a common travel area before either were in the EU, and that arrangement has prevailed over the years, but Ms Villiers has been contradicted by the Governments in Dublin and London which have left open the possibility of new controls being introduced.

It is difficult to imagine a situation where there would be no controls or checks on the movement of goods if the UK left the EU. This would inevitably involve additional costs. There might conceivably also be British as well as EU measures.

In Amsterdam in January, the Taoiseach said that if Britain were to leave the European Union we would be looking at Border controls in Ireland, despite the fact that we have a common travel area. That view has been echoed in London, where a report by the British Government Cabinet Office in March warned that if the UK left the EU customs union "it would be necessary to impose customs checks on the movement of goods across the border". It further stated, "Questions would also need to be answered about the common travel area which covers the movement of people."

In the Border counties and the frontier towns such as Monaghan town, Cavan, Dundalk, Sligo or Letterkenny, the economy is very fragile, and we need freedom of movement for tourism and visitors in particular. Reports suggest unemployment could rise by as much as 14,000 in Northern Ireland over two years if the UK left the European Union, with 2,000 added to the youth unemployment figure. It must be remembered that many of those employees are from this side of the Border. Fewer jobs in Northern Ireland, and possible knock-on effects on business and employment on this side of the Border, would see family incomes hit and the value of people's homes and pensions falling.

The UK has had a greater influence on the EU's development than it realises and if it chooses to stay, Britain can and will continue to have a major influence. I hope that when the people in the UK and our friends in Northern Ireland go to vote they make the right decision and vote to remain as part of the EU.

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