Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am deputising on behalf of my colleague, Senator Joe O'Reilly, our regular spokesman on foreign affairs, who cannot be here since he is representing Ireland at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. I sincerely welcome the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, to the House and thank him for his remarks. As this is the first time I have had the opportunity to engage with him in his new portfolio, I wish him all the best in his vitally important role.

The current impasse in Northern Ireland is understandably of major concern to all in this House as well as to many people across this jurisdiction and Northern Ireland itself. I welcome that, as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, the Government is determined to do everything in its power to ensure that all of its institutions operate effectively, including the devolved Assembly and power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland and, vitally, the North-South Ministerial Council. I am reassured by the Minister in his comments that some progress is being made in the current discussions between parties and I join him in welcoming the sustained engagement between the DUP and Sinn Féin, particularly over the last number of weeks. I join with many others in hoping for a speedy resolution at this sensitive time, although I also add my support for the idea of including political parties beyond the two main parties in Northern Ireland, such as the Alliance Party, the Ulster Unionist Party, UUP, the SDLP and other members of the Assembly. I am also heartened to hear in recent days from the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, that he is confident that a deal can be reached in the near future. I fear, in the context of Brexit, that this deal would perhaps be too late to ensure that Northern Ireland's voice is heard properly, particularly at Westminster and in Whitehall.

Brexit will be a monumental challenge for this island in particular as our Border, post-Brexit, will become the only land frontier between the European Union and United Kingdom. The relatively normal and harmonious situation that we are now used to can and will change utterly in the case of either a hard Brexit or, even worse, a no deal scenario. The Border region, both North and South, would be devastated economically and socially if this was to occur. I and other Senators who sat on our Seanad Special Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union heard at length from scores of organisations about the difficulties that it would present for every facet of life. Everything must be done to prepare for, but hopefully avoid, the worst-case scenario. It is in that regard that a rapid restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive is now more important than possibly ever before. With the looming European Council meeting to decide if enough progress has been made between European and British negotiators on key issues such as the Irish question, I implore all those in this House and beyond to use every tool at their disposal to encourage compromise and make sure that Northern Ireland's voice is heard strongly. Let us give the 1.8 million people of Northern Ireland the opportunity to have their voice heard fully in the Brexit negotiations.

In my recent work on a European level, I have been confronted by many European colleagues and indeed domestic stakeholders who have queried if this Government has focused too much on Northern Ireland so far in the Brexit process when wider issues such as trade are also vitally important. While I agree, of course, on the importance of agreeing a good, open free trade agreement between the EU and UK post-Brexit, I am sure this is a priority for all EU member states that enjoy, to varying degrees, a good trading relationship with the UK.

However, Northern Ireland presents a unique problem for the post-Brexit process which Ireland is most exposed to. Ireland is duty-bound to push to ensure there is a positive resolution to it or, in reality, that the amount of damage caused by Brexit is simply limited. A key stumbling block to any future relationship is customs, and the Government is wholly correct to continue to push for the UK to either remain in the existing customs union or for a new EU-UK customs union to be agreed upon. There are no technological solutions to the Border issue. The return of any border, soft, hard, movable or electronic would be a massive negative backward step.

I thank the Minister for his frank and clear engagement here this afternoon. I wish him and all interested parties the best of luck in the coming weeks. I repeat my call for every effort to be made to restore the institutions in the North. On behalf of my colleague, Senator O'Reilly, I echo his many concerns about the particular Border region in the post-Brexit era as it relates to his home area of Cavan-Monaghan.