Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

John Bradley of Queen's University Belfast once said that policy neglect seldom goes unpunished. The Revenue Commissioners have produced a comprehensive report on Brexit that the Government has not released. It outlines the fact that the 91,000 Irish companies that trade with the United Kingdom will be subject to massive regulations and customs declarations in the event of a hard Brexit and the UK not joining the customs union or the Single Market. The report says that an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic will be impossible from a customs perspective and it would be naive to believe a unique arrangement can be found.

This House needs to debate that report. It should be made available to the public. It is not our job to design the Border for the UK or to predetermine the outcome it wants, although it does not seem to know what it wants. Its policy is it wants to have its cake and eat it. That is not, as John Bradley would point out, a policy at all. The Revenue Commissioners' report needs to be debated by this House because in the event of a hard Border with a hard Brexit we will, under our obligations as a member of the European Union, have to put in customs posts along our border with the UK. There are over 345 crossings between the North and the South. During the Troubles only 20 of those were open. We need to plan and prepare for what Britain may or may not do. We must be prepared for all eventualities. I know the Leader would agree that, given that the report was leaked and is in the public domain, it is important that we debate the Revenue Commissioners' analysis. It is an independent analysis which Government asked it to carry out. We need to see what the cost will be, not only for the State to put these customs posts in place but also for the 91,000 companies that trade with the UK. What will happen at our ports in Rosslare, Dublin and Cork as a result of this? What kind of delays will there be? What will be the practical implications of the extra space required, buildings that need to be built, storage units to be put in place now, not with six months to go, and Britain crashing out of the European Union as seems to be its destiny, which is within its own hands? We cannot assume that it will have its cake and eat it because the European Union is certainly not going to bake it and neither will we.

We have to prepare and help companies that will face these extra tariffs and customs arrangements, financially, as announced in the budget. It is not nearly enough but it is a step in the right direction. We must help them. That independent report needs to be debated by this House, the other House and all the committees, which have produced reports on Brexit, including the Seanad special committee, chaired by Senator Richmond. I hope the Leader will facilitate that debate.