Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom féin mo chomhghairdeas a sheoladh go Máirtín Groves ar a cheapachán feasta. I congratulate Mr. Martin Groves on his appointment. I wish to expand slightly on what Senators Black and Craughwell have said about Brexit. I particularly wish to draw the attention of the Leader and the other Members to the report issued recently from the policy department for citizens' rights and constitutional affairs at the European Parliament. Its forthright conclusion is that Brexit will have a direct impact on the institutional arrangements of the Good Friday Agreement. That is not political point scoring or academic speculation. That is the European Parliament and its membership telling us that the vote in England to remove Northern Ireland from the European Union against its will is not just undermining the democratic mandate expressed by the people in the North, but is also actively and institutionally going to undermine the precious arrangements enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement, of which the people in the North and the rest of the country voted overwhelmingly in favour.

The report itself goes into considerable detail about the processes and effects that Brexit will have on the EU, Britain and, most importantly in this instance, Ireland. At the core of its findings for Ireland, it concludes that, while the EU has brought many benefits in terms of funding streams and structural supports, it will have more than just a financial impact on Ireland, as I said earlier but will have a significant impact on the Good Friday Agreement. I quote from the report:

The impact will be both political, in particular since the Good Friday Agreement – an international agreement – will require alteration, which could lead to instability in the region as well as to tensions between Ireland and the UK, and economic/technical, as the re-establishment of a hard border between the North and the South could provoke a reversal of improvements in cross-border trade.

I repeat: "will require alteration". I believe that lays out a challenge for us very clearly. Through the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, CPP, and the broader Seanad, we should seek, as advocated by other Senators, to engage as a matter of urgency with the policy department for citizens' rights and constitutional affairs at the European Parliament to discuss and hopefully expand upon its findings. As an institution, this Seanad should make it very clear that we respect the democratic mandate in the North.I was disappointed the Taoiseach did not make it clear in his engagement with the British Prime Minister yesterday that we respect the democratic mandate expressed in the North and that we, as an institution, will and should, as a right and a matter of principle, argue for special status for the North to remain with the rest of Ireland in the European Union, as exists for other states and arrangements across the Continent.