Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Alex is not here. I hope Alex is more successful than I have been. There are a couple of days left. I welcome the Taoiseach to the Seanad. I am glad he raised the issue of Brexit because I am interested in the Government's plans to protect the best interests of the entire island of Ireland. We are about to enter an extremely difficult period for which there is no precedent. We are now in the calm after the storm and before the next storm, when Article 50 will be triggered. There is no timeline and, regrettably, there is not much hard evidence of planning on the Government's part. We need to see the entire island being proactive, rather than waiting on the Tory Government to make the next move. They created this crisis for their own selfish ends. The Taoiseach should certainly not allow them to dictate how we respond or the pace. It is now obvious that the Brexiteers had absolutely no plan. We still do not know what they want. We need the Taoiseach to work closely with the Northern Executive, with or without the support of the British Government.The Taoiseach should, when necessary, stand up for Ireland and confront the British Government, in the same way as the First Minister of Scotland, Ms Nicola Sturgeon, is doing. I welcome Ms Sturgeon's moves. Also, she has explicitly said that if the negotiations around Brexit are not to her satisfaction and the satisfaction of the Scottish National Party, SNP, she will consider another referendum on Scottish independence.

Mr. David Davis MP has been appointed as Brexit Minister in Britain. Has the Taoiseach any plans for a Minister and Department here to deal with the fallout from Brexit and, indeed, to plan across all Departments here, including the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine which will be crucial in the Brexit issue? Not a day goes by without a new forecast or concern raised regarding the possible impact of the decision by English voters to leave the EU. I say "English voters" because the people in the North of Ireland voted to remain in the EU. We need a dedicated individual and support staff to formulate responses and come up with solutions in what looks to be a challenging few years ahead. It is vital that the Taoiseach takes personal responsibility to impress upon the British Government that their wishes should be respected. I get the sense that the Government is dealing with all of this as a done deal and we in Sinn Féin will continue to press for the rights of those who consciously voted to remain part of the EU.

I also want to find out whether the Taoiseach, since he was returned in April last, has been listening to the concerns of people. We had thousands of people on the streets again last week over the water charges. They are clearly saying that the water charges should go forever. This means the charges being eliminated. It is time to give up the ghost on the water issue. People will not be fooled into paying their hard-earned money to keep Irish Water in the lifestyle to which it has become accustomed. All the while, we see the purchase of Siteserv and, indeed, the non-implementation of the Moriarty tribunal findings become centre-stage in American politics around the US presidential election. It reflects badly on us, as a country.

I will turn briefly to the Apple issue. There is considerable public concern at the Government's refusal of the €13 billion. My party and I think we are missing a real opportunity for the Taoiseach, as leader of this country, to hold his hands up and come clean. This is a real opportunity for the Taoiseach to admit that we have for several decades knowingly facilitated tax evasion and tax avoidance on a significant scale. We are not the only country to have done this. Billions of euro have been lost to people all over the world but we are leading the charge in it. The Taoiseach's Government and particularly the previous Fianna Fáil-led Government have formulated policy to deprive Irish citizens of billions of euro due to this State from multinational companies. The Taoiseach, with Fianna Fáil, has given away our natural resources, our oil and gas and our fishing industry, and our seaweed industry is even about to be given away.

Nobody is saying we should not do everything we can to encourage inward investment and job creation from multinationals, and indeed they are welcome to be here. Our 12.5% corporation tax rate is highly competitive. Our educated English-speaking workforce and many other factors make this an attractive place to do business. Do we not owe it to the hundreds of thousands who have been forced to emigrate, those children who are not allowed on the school bus, those children and families who are homeless, those elderly and sick patients lying on hospital trolleys, those children with special needs, those with disabilities, those parents crippled by the cost of child care, those on low wages and zero-hour contracts and those farm and fishing families whose incomes have been eroded to have a fair fiscal policy that will drive a fairer distribution of wealth in this country?