Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Today the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, will trigger Article 50, which will eventually see the UK leave the EU over a two-year period. We are all concerned about the impact this will have on Ireland, especially the threat of a hard border. Today it is easy to forget the problems our country faced before the Good Friday Agreement. We take for granted free movement between North and South. At only three Border crossing points, there are as many as 325,000 crossings per week. In 2016 Ireland and the UK traded approximately €39 billion in goods and services. We are faced with a situation that could lead to job losses and have a massive impact on the economy at large.

The Government has made some superficial moves to deal with Brexit, but mostly we have seen only rhetoric on the common travel area, preventing a hard border and protecting the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The Government has yet to appoint a Minister with responsibility for Brexit as Fianna Fáil has advocated. The Government seems to have completely ignored the impact Brexit will have on key sectors of the economy in which we trade most with the UK, for example, agriculture, food, engineering and manufacturing.

In Northern Ireland the undisputed facts include we have had two Assembly elections in the past year, we have had parties refusing to serve in the Executive, and we have had Sinn Féin withdrawing from the Executive because of a refusal to establish an inquiry into cash for ash, which has actually been established. Now, we have a standstill in the formation of the Assembly at the hour Prime Minister May is triggering Article 50, and at such an hour we need to be united. We learned this morning a civil servant, David Sterling, has taken control of the Stormont Government budget in the absence of the establishment of an Executive. All departments in the North, from health to education, may be affected by this action, as a civil servant's budget is a reduced budget. This inaction by the leading parties in Northern Ireland is inexcusable. We need to acknowledge the period of peace over the past two decades. We need to work together to commit to continued peace in Northern Ireland. Ultimately, we need to see a united approach to reducing the impact the triggering of a hard Brexit will have on our country and our island.

Today is the sixth day of the bus strike and 2,600 employees have been on strike. The Minister has gone to ground. He will attend a committee hearing today to give us an update. I understand he will not interfere in the bus strike and he will give some sort of acknowledgement there will be a review into transport services. This is not enough. We need to see action today. Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann employees will support their colleagues at lunch time, which I support. The Minister needs to take some action. He cannot sit on the fence on every issue. He needs to meet union members and sort out this crisis. Traffic in the city is beginning to be massively affected and workers throughout the country are being discommoded because of his inaction.